Author's note: Hey guys. It's Halenriser.
So, here's the thing, this arc will have a 4th part. I know this is unexpected, even I did not expect it at first, but I was trying to push so much into one chapter that it has become a 30 page-long chapter.
So the grand conclusion/final battle of this arc will be in the next chapter.
BUT THERE IS A REASON WHY I HAVE WORKED ON THIS CHAPTER FOR DAYS! AND THAT IS TO APPEASE YOU FANS! YOU BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL FANS!
Lucy: Flattery will get you nowhere. The fact you are making this 4 parts is disgraceful. Even for you.
I'm not flattering them. I am telling the truth.
Lucy: Shut up. *slaps me*
;~; Stop hurting me! I said I was sorry!
Lucy: YOU TURNED ME AGAINST MY OWN BROTHER AND LIED TO YOUR FANS! THAT IS NOT OKAY!
I didn't lie. I was just mistaken.
By the way, a lot of you have pointed out that I am adding a lot of feelsy (emotional) moments into the story and I was questioned via PM why I was doing this. The reason I am doing this is because the story is not just an actiony, adventurous, romantic (sort of), and science fiction story. I also want you to feel some sort of deeper connection to what the characters are feeling. Like Jason and Lucy's brother-sister relationship and how it comes into play into this arc.
There will be more feelsy (emotional) moments later in the story too so don't expect them to go away after this arc.
Now here's Chapter 36.
Chapter 36: Power Plant Assault part 3
July 30, 20XX 18:38
Jason was in shock at what he was seeing. Only minutes ago he had been determined to defeat the mysterious enemy named Arreba who was attacking him with intent to kill. Now he was face to face with his sister, who turned out to be the enemy he was just fighting. He was speechless, confused, surprised, and above all, afraid. Afraid that he may lose his sister. Afraid that his sister will lose her humanity. And above all, afraid he may have to kill his own sister.
The said sister, seeing as how Jason was not getting up, strutted over to him and looked down on him. Her eyes were no longer dark brown and were now completely blood red and her face had a few scratches on it, most likely from her helmet shattering. You could see the hatred and anger inside her just by looking into her eyes. Though her eyes were different and her armor was clearly made for Fusions, Jason knew right away that it was his real sister and not some lookalike.
"Lucy?" Jason said cautiously.
She didn't reply to him. A Weird Welder came hurtling towards her and she merely swatted it aside with the back of her hand, something that Jason knew his sister should be incapable of doing without having the strength boost given out by Nanoes. She then turned back to face him and raised her weapon above her head. Jason didn't even bother to move back. He was frozen in place by the shock and fear. She then brought it down on him.
Jason closed his eyes, expecting to feel a blunt object bludgeoning him to death, but just before it hit him he heard a loud "shluck" sound and felt a few drops of Fusion Matter hit his face. He slowly opened his eyes and gasped at what he was seeing. Fusion Gwen had blocked the attack with her own body, Lucy's weapon stabbed through her chest and coming out of her back. The Fusion who saved Jason coughed up some Fusion Matter and Lucy growled in frustration.
"What the hell are you doing?" Fusion Gwen asked, her voice a little raspy. "Get up, dammit. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"What am I doing? What are YOU doing? Why did you save me?!"
Fusion Gwen closed her eyes and smiled, Fusion Matter coming out of her mouth like how blood would come out of a human's. "Because this is my fate. The world needs you, and besides, even if we did win I was going to die anyways." Jason was shaking a little. Angry at himself for letting this happen. "Listen, 001, don't let my death be in vein."
Growling in anger, Lucy turned her weapon inside of Fusion Gwen and then tore it through her side, cutting her open. The said Fusion then slumped forward and melted into Fusion Matter, leaving only a Nano and the liquid it was made of behind. The Fusion Matter flew into Jason's Nano Com and he got to his feet, weapon in hand.
He got to his feet, weapon in hand, and lashed out at his sister. He was now feeling very angry. No, he wasn't simply angry. He was pissed off. He charged at his sister and the two clashed blades again. "Lucy snap out of it! This isn't you!" He shouted.
She still didn't reply and instead roundhouse kicked him. Jason winced but did not budge an inch. Instead he ducked down and swept his feet under hers, knocking her off balance and causing her to fall on her ass.
Before Jason got the chance to pin her though she rolled backwards and stood on her feet. The two pointed their weapons at each other and began to circle each other. "Lucy. Wake up, dammit!"
She lashed out at him just after he said that and their battle continued.
Serah was not having much luck on winning her fights. With a broken arm, empty pistols, and a hammer that normally took two hands to lift, she was finally reaching her limit. The Nanoes were off fighting other battles and she wasn't completely sure where the Fusions were so to her knowledge, she was all alone.
"Damn." She said, kicking away a Weird Welder. "If this keeps up then I'm not going to make it out of here alive." She felt a Weird Welder blast her in the back and knocked her on her stomach. She cried out in pain, tears welling up in her eyes because she knew she was going to die. She didn't want to die though. She wanted to live and spend her life with the boy she loved. She wanted to protect the people of the planet. She wanted to help and fight alongside her friends.
Her hammer was now a few feet away from her, just out of her reach. She managed roll herself onto her back and saw six Weird Welders standing over her. Each of them had their arms pointed at her so they could blast her and destroy her. She wasn't going to go down without a fight though, so she kicked one of them in the shins and yelled "Fuck you!" This didn't last long though as she saw the arms glowing green. Finally accepting defeat, Serah closed her eyes and waited for the end.
However just before the Fusion Monsters could fire, Serah felt an intense heatwave blow over her, followed by another one surrounding her. She opened her eyes to see what had happened and was amazed to see Fusion Flame Princess crouched down beside her with her hands to the ground, a cylinder of flames surrounding the two of them but not hurting them.
"You okay?" Fusion Flame Prince asked. Serah nodded and sat up, wincing as she applied pressure to her broken arm. "Broke your arm, huh? Don't worry. You'll be patched up later."
"How are you doing this?" Serah asked in wonder.
"It's my gloves. They change the color and strength of my flames to make them a little more natural and a little more dangerous. They were one of Plutonium's inventions and he gave it to me."
The blond-haired Subject forced herself to her feet, groaning from the pain in her arm. "This really sucks." She complained.
"Not much you can do about it. Listen, I'm going to get rid of the fires. Once they are out of the way we need to attack right away. Can you use that hammer of yours?" she motioned towards Serah's hammer, which was at the edge of the flames.
"Kind of. It's heavy but I can hold it a little with one arm." She grabbed her hammer and rested it on her shoulder. "I'm ready."
Fusion Flame Princess nodded quickly before standing up, and as soon as she removed her hands from the ground the flames disappeared. "GO!" she yelled, incinerating a group of Weird Welders who were waiting for them with fireballs she created. Serah took her hammer and swung it at a Weird Welder, but due to how heavy the weapon was she also got slightly pulled in the direction of the hammer. It was not long after this though that she came up with an idea on how to use that to her advantage.
"Six! I need a strength boost!" she yelled and moments later she felt her strength increasing. "Alright." She then charged at a Weird Welder and swung her weapon at it, smashing it and once again pulling her; however, this time she managed that when it did she was being pulled that she would be heading towards a Fusion Monster and once she was close enough to it she jumped up a little and kicked its side. When the kick hit there was a loud crack and the monster split in half from where she kicked. Serah's smile widened as her plan was working. Her plan was to use the momentum the hammer added onto her to bring her towards an enemy and, using the force added by the momentum and her own enhanced strength, she would be able to fight.
She charged at another Weird Welder and did the same thing, but this time she aimed herself at a Weird Welder Foremen. While she was moving, Serah positioned her legs so that when she landed she would spin and make the momentum increase. Her plan proved to be a success as she landed perfectly and, using her enhanced strength, she spun around and hurtled herself right at the beast. The hammer slammed into its chest and stuck there. Now attached to the Fusion Monster, Serah began kicking the monster over and over again until the monster fell backwards and dissolved into Fusion Matter.
She then turned to face her enemies with a wicked grin on her face. "Who's next?!"
Billy and Mark moved out of the way as Fusion Bunny flew towards the two of them once again only to crash into yet another wall. This little turn of events had been had been going on for nearly 15 minutes and the two Subjects were starting to question the intelligence of their enemy.
"I can't tell if this thing is hurting itself on purpose of it's just too stupid to think about what its doing." said Billy.
"I think it's the latter." said Mark. "How do we beat it? We can't get close or it will crush us and if it keeps coming at us like this we're only going to wind up dead from pushing our luck."
Billy glanced down at his Nano Com and then looked at Mark. "What about the Nanoes? Do you think they could help?"
Mark shrugged his shoulders. "It's worth a shot. Which ones do you have?"
"Eddy, Jake, and Mojo Jojo. You?"
"Jack, Butch, and Scotsman?"
"Scotsman may help a lot."
"Alright and so could Jake."
"Okay. Let's call them out." The two of them both held up their Nano Coms and each pushed a button on them. Once the buttons were pushed, two Nanoes appeared before the duo: Nano Jake and Nano Scotsman.
"Hey man. What's going on?" said Nano Jake happily.
"What do ya need of me?" asked the Scotsman.
Billy pulled out a few explosives and strapped them to his waist. "We've got a new Fusion to take care of and we need your help to get rid of it. You two up to the challenge?" he asked.
The two Nanoes looked over at Fusion Bunny and the two of them smiled.
"Oh yeah. Let's kick some butt." Nano Jake turned his hands into a battle-axe and a sword.
"I'm always ready for a fight. Ye boys will be glad you chose me when this is over." Nano Scotsman loaded the gun that he had for a leg and drew his sword.
"Good. Then it's about time we got this show on the road!" The four of them then charged at the Fusion, who finally managed to pull themselves free of the wall they were stuck in.
Fusion Bunny growled and stomped the ground and made a medium-sized crevice form while she said "BUNNY!" The crevice was slow to form though so everyone managed to easily avoid it. Nano Jake shrunk down to the size of a hand grenade and Billy grabbed him before tossing him at the Fusion. As soon as the Nano was in reach of the Fusion it quickly re-expanded and sliced off the Fusion's arms with its battle-axe arm and sword arm. It let out a loud roar of pain before head-butting the Nano into the ground and then stomping on it, crushing it and sending it back to Billy's Nano Com.
"Scotsman, now!" Mark proclaimed, pointing at the Fusion.
The Scotsman blasted off towards the armless Fusion and used his sword to cut off its legs. The Fusion growled again and shot green beams out of its eyes at Nano warrior, burning it to a crisp. Mark and Billy were both left speechless by these actions as they had not expected it to do that. Billy was the first to shake off the shock though and yelled "Now's our chance!" to Mark.
Just as the two of them began their charge they noticed something was wrong with Fusion Bunny. It was starting to shake and the areas where it's arms and legs were started to bubble, as if something were trying to break out of it. Upon seeing this, the two Subjects slowed down and stopped a few feet away from it and began to back up, nervous about what was happening.
"Buuuunnyyyyy. Bunny." It closed its eyes and roared out its name one more time before something truly terrifying happened to it. As soon as she let out the roar, Fusion Bunny's arms shot right back out of the areas that were bubbling and two new legs shot out of where her first legs were.
Billy and Mark were speechless. With this one act of self-recovery, they came to the realization that this may be an enemy they could not defeat on their own. "SPLIT!" shouted Mark. Billy and Mark ran in separate directions to avoid the Fusion that was now going to be hunting them.
However, just before the Fusion could take off after them, Mandy got in its way. She had a look of distaste, anger, and annoyance on her face that basically said 'I'm not here to fuck around.'
"And just where do you think you're going?" she said. Fusion Bunny tilted her head a little and Mandy grunted. "If those two idiots aren't going to kill you, then I'll do it myself."
Fusion Bunny chuckled and suddenly shot forward, right at Mandy.
Billy dodged a few Motor Raptors and ducked into a nearby building so he could hide from the Fusion Monsters and recover a little bit of his strength. He hit his Nano Com and Nano Eddy appeared before him, and as soon as the Nano saw his master he immediately began to heal him. While he waited, the brown-haired Subject started going over the battle he was just in with Mark and how the battle could have ended differently.
But no matter how he pictured it, every strategy would have resulted in their deaths. Thus, finding allies to help was the best move the two of them could make in this kind of situation. He slumped against a wall and slid down it until he was sitting on the floor. The only sounds he could here were the sounds from the battles, his own breathing, Eddy healing him, and heavy footsteps… wait, heavy footsteps?
Billy opened his eyes and grabbed one of his short swords. "Who's there?" he asked.
At first there was silence but then a familiar face stepped into his field of vision, and as soon as he saw the person, he began to feel a sense of hope. It was Fusion Hector Con Carne.
"002? What are you doing here?" asked the large Fusion.
"I could ask you the same question." said Billy as he put away his weapon.
"I was separated from the others while fighting off an assault from Weird Welders and Weird Welder Foremen. What about you?"
Billy's face turned red from embarrassment. "I fled here to recover after fighting a Fusion."
"Fled? Does that mean it's alive?" Billy nodded and Fusion Hector grunted. "Who is this Fusion?"
"Fusion Bunny. Mark and I split up so we could both find help… Would you mind lending us a hand?" asked Billy.
The large Fusion crossed his arms. "Yes. I will. Believe me when I say that you definitely need my help. This Fusion Bunny is a modified version of what used to be the original Fusion Bunny. Professor Plutonium modified her and made her into his assistant. She used to be smarter than she is now. The Professor dumbed down her intelligence though to make it less likely that she would go against him if Fuse commanded her to. She and I are on equal levels of strength."
So that's why everyone though it was him causing those deaths. Both are at equal strengths, but no one has seen Fusion Bunny until now. That makes total sense.
Fusion Hector Con Carne walked over to the way out of the building and pushed the doors wide open. "Let's go. I've got a score to settle with that thing anyways."
It took nearly seven minutes, but eventually Mark managed across some familiar faces that he believed could help; Bannon and his squad along with Sam and Roxanne. The seven of them were all inside one of the buildings in the Power Plant and were standing together in a sort of box formation with Sam at the center, shooting small bolts of lightning that were stunning the Fusion Monsters so the others could finish them off.
Arthur was swinging his sword around and slicing whatever Fusions got close to the group wile Bannon fired off rounds from a rifle. Teddy and Conner were firing rocket launchers and throwing grenades into the crowds of Fusion Monsters and Roxanne and Ace were firing pistols at the monsters.
Mark quickly ran over to them and got into the middle of the group. "We need help." Said Mark.
"We're a little busy right now." said Bannon.
"This is more important, dammit!" snapped Mark.
There was a loud bang, louder than any other sound in the area, coming from the direction Mark came from and as the group turned their heads to see what caused it they all became slightly alarmed as they saw Fusion Bunny standing at the edge of the crowd of Fusion Monsters. Lying at her feet, in a small crater now being filled with blood, was the body of Mandy, the one who led the assault on the Power Plant. Her limbs were bent in different directions and her head appeared to have been snapped. Also, one of her arms was missing and her scythe was clearly broken in half but sticking out of the Fusion's back, signifying that she did not go down without a fight.
"Oh shit." Arthur said lowering his weapon a little.
"Dude. It killed our leader." said Ace.
"Should we run or…?" asked Teddy.
"…" Conner gripped his weapon tighter and focused on killing approaching Fusion Monsters while the others were too distracted to do it.
"This is bad. I don't think my magic can hold that thing off." said Sam, who was backing up a little.
Roxanne and Bannon glared at the Fusion and both stepped forward to face it. "Stand your ground, guys. That thing killed the person who led us into combat. She was bold, sadistic, cruel, and downright dangerous. Her fatal flaw though, was that she fought that thing by herself. That's not the situation for us." Bannon said as he reloaded his rifle and added a scope onto it.
Roxanne switched her two pistols out for two stronger ones and smirked. "Besides, that thing doesn't look THAT strong. I'm sure the eight of us can take it." She looked over her shoulder and playfully winked at Mark." I mean, this is the reason why you came to us for help, right Mark?"
Mark nodded and smiled. He pulled out his katanas and turned to face his enemy again. "Yeah. Exactly… Oh, and Roxanne?" He pointed at himself. "Taken"
"Figures."
"Make that ten people."
Everyone, including Fusion Bunny, looked to where the voice came from. Once Mark saw who it was, he got a wide smile on his face, however the others (excluding the Fusion) were shocked by what they were seeing. Walking towards them were Billy Airborneammo and Fusion Hector Con Carne.
"Don't ask questions. Just know he's on our side." Mark said to the group. "And we need all the help we can get right now."
Fusion Bunny let out another loud roar and got ready to charge at the group. "Eyes forward and weapons ready, soldiers!" yelled Bannon. Everyone raised their weapons and aimed them at the Fusion.
Mark and Billy pointed their swords and Fusion Bunny and together they both shouted the command "ATTACK!"
Sam said a quick spell and all of the group's melee weapons burst into flames along the blades. Mark, Arthur, and Fusion Hector charged at the Fusion and began to attack it close up. The flame-engulfed blades of their weapons were slicing through, and burning, the Fusion's skin with ease. And Fusion Matter leaked from the wounds while Sam kept casting spells to try to slow it's reaction speed down. Meanwhile Bannon was firing off his rifle at the Fusion's head while Teddy and Ace used machine guns to put holes in the beast. Roxanne and Conner were dodging and weaving around the Fusion and the melee weapon-wielding fighters as they fired off their pistols. The bullets released from everyone's guns had been enchanted by Sam so they would not harm any allies so the people fighting up close were not hurt.
Fusion Bunny kept attacking her enemies but was met with little success at hitting them, which frustrated her more and more with each passing second. Finally it got to the point where she had had enough, so she raised up her arms and slammed them into the ground, creating a small shockwave that forced everyone backwards and causing a few of them to fall over. She got ready to charge at her enemies to destroy them all. Fusion Hector took notice of this and before anyone knew what was happening, he got in the Fusion's way and the two locked their hands as they stood in a charging position.
Mark and Billy scrambled to their feet to help but Fusion Hector didn't move out of the way. Instead he grunted from pushing back against his enemy and said to his comrades. "Kill her! Do it now! Blow her up!"
"But if we try to blow her up then you'll die too!" shouted Mark.
"It doesn't matter! I was supposed to die eventually, so I figured I would do it while making myself useful!"
Billy felt a lump in his throat. "But-"
"NO BUTS JUST DO IT NOW!"
Billy took out five grenades, closed his eyes, pulled the pins, and whipped them at the two Fusions. As soon as each of them individually hit the ground they exploded. Fusion Matter flew everywhere as the friendly Fusion and the enemy Fusion were both blown to bits, leaving only two Nanoes behind. They were Nano Hector Con Carne and Nano Bunny.
The fighting around the nine fighters seemed to stop as a tear rolled down Billy's cheek. "We didn't know him long, but I am going to miss the big guy. He was misunderstood yet he reached out to his natural enemies for help… I think this basically cleared his name as the killer from before, don't you agree, Mark?"
The red-haired Subject wiped his eyes and nodded. "Yes. I believe you're right about that. He was a good ally, one we could call friend, and his death will not be in vain." Mark put his weapons away and turned to the group. "Bannon, Sam, Roxanne, you and the others need to stay out here to hold the line and keep the monsters from following us. We're going to go help Serah and Jason."
Bannon nodded his head. "Roger that. We'll make sure these fuckers don't come after you."
Sam smiled. "Alright. You can count on me."
Roxanne walked over to Billy and Mark and placed her hands on one of each of their shoulders. "Bring back my partner, do you hear me? You four better come back with Lucy."
Mark smirked and backed up. "Don't worry. We won't leave without her. Jason will make sure of that."
The two Subjects then ran off to help their friends.
Inside the Power Plant
Serah and Fusion Flame Princess were standing back to back now. The blonde Subject's broken arm was in a makeshift sling and the fire-controlling Fusion was breathing heavily from exhaustion. Nearly all the Fusion Monsters that had been in the room before were now gone and the only people/monsters were left were the two girls, five Weird Welders, seven Weird Welder Foremen, Jason, and the person who attacked her and Jason. The Nanoes had worn themselves out sometime during the fight and would up disappearing rather than stick around.
Serah looked over to check on her fellow Subject and gasped at what she was seeing. Jason and his enemy were indeed still fighting each other one on one, but it was the identity of the enemy that shocked her. It was Jason's sister, Lucy. The person who they came to save was fighting her own brother. She wanted to break up the fight but was stopped by one of the remaining Weird Welders.
"Grr… Get out of the way!" Serah killed the monster by smacking her hammer into it, but as soon as it was gone another one took its place.
"You're not going to be able to get to them yet, Serah! We need to take care of these things first!" said Fusion Flame Princess as she launched a volley of fireballs at the three other Weird Welders, burning them to a crisp while Serah smashed the last one that was standing in her path. Fusion Flame Princess looked over her shoulder and noticed how worn out Serah was. She was at her limit and the battle needed to end soon or else things would get really ugly.
The Weird Welder Foremen began to advance on the duo. Fusion Flame Princess watched each of them closely but she soon came to the conclusion that they wouldn't stand a chance the way they were. "… Unless I do that…" she turned to Serah. "Serah, do you have a Nano who can put up a shield to protect you?"
"Yeah I have one. Hold on." She pressed a button on her Nano Com and Nano Hoss Delgado appeared.
"What's going on?" he asked, looking around.
Fusion Flame Princess smiled gently and took off her gloves. "Okay, Serah, listen to me and listen good. I want you to put up shields around you, Jason, and that girl."
Serah tilted her head. "What about you?"
The fire-controlling Fusion sighed and tossed her gloves to Serah. "I'll be fine. I'm just going to put an end to this and I don't want any of you getting hurt."
Serah barely caught the gloves and she looked at her Fusion friend with a worried expression. "Why are you giving me these? I thought you needed them to hide your identity."
"It doesn't matter anymore. Just do as I said, alright?"
"I'm confused. What are you up to?"
Fusion Flame Princess sighed and turned to Nano Hoss Delgado and once he looked into her eyes, he figured out what she was planning on doing. "I understand." He said in a sad tone.
The tone of his voice surprised Serah and she looked at the two of them, but before she could say anything Nano Hoss knocked his fists together, activating his ability. Once this ability was engaged shields formed around the three people Fusion Flame Princess spoke of.
"Hey! What are you-"
Fusion Flame Princess smiled and said "Goodbye, my friends. Thank you for helping us." to the Subjects. The room then suddenly flashed bright green and something exploded in the room, sending everyone flying backwards. When the green light faded, there were no more Weird Welder Foremen in the room, which made Serah happy, but as she looked around to say something to her Fusion ally, her smile began to fade. She was nowhere to be seen. The only thing left in the room besides the three humans was a new Nano: Nano Flame Princess.
The shield surrounding her shattered almost immediately after things calmed down a little and as soon as it did, Serah began to approach the Nano slowly. "No." The closer she got the more upset she felt. "Nonono." And soon, she was standing in front of the new Nano.
Nano Flame Princess smiled. "Hi there. It's nice to meet you." she said.
Tears welled in Serah's eyes after hearing the Nano say that, and before she realized what she was doing, she grabbed the Nano in her arms and began to cry. The flames that were the Nano's hair were warm like a fire, but they did not burn her. Her body was just a little bit warmer, but it also didn't burn. Whenever a tear landed on the Nano's head, it turned into steam. The blonde-haired Subject was heartbroken as no one had done that for her before. She had lost a good friend who she barely knew but learned to trust. She sacrificed herself for Serah, and this was all that was left of her.
But then Serah remembered the gloves she was given. She released the Nano slowly and took hold of the gloves Fusion Flame Princess had given her At first the only thing she did was stare at them, but then a thought came to her and she slowly slipped one of them on her hands. Once it was on, she closed her eyes and began to concentrate on it, trying to make it do something.
Her first attempt was a failure, but then she tried something different. She closed her eyes and imagined a fire, one that was burning bright. She imagined the fire getting brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding, and then she felt something near her arm; something warm. She opened her eyes and to her surprised the glove was on fire. "It worked." she said quietly.
Jason sat up and looked around. The last thing he remembered was that he and Lucy were locked in combat, when suddenly two shields formed between them and a blinding light knocked them both away from each other. Worried about his sister, Jason looked around and noticed that all the Fusion Monsters that were in the room before were now gone. There was also a new Nano in the room.
After looking around a little bit more, Jason spotted his sister running away climbing up a wall to get to a doorway. He cussed and gave chase, but by the time he got to the wall, his sister was already gone.
"I'm not giving up that easily." He said as he grabbed onto the wall. After getting a good grip on it, Jason began to scale the wall to get to the doorway. "How the heck did she get up here so fast?" It didn't take him much longer to reach the top after saying that.
"Jason!"
Jason turned around and saw Billy and Mark enter the room. "Guys! You're alright!"
"Heck yeah we are! The plan went great!" yelled Mark.
"But…Fusion Hector Con Carne died saving us from Fusion Bunny!" shouted Billy. He looked around and frowned when he did not see the other two Fusions. "Where are Fusion Gwen and Fusion Flame Princess?"
"Fusion Gwen died saving me!" yelled Jason.
Serah walked up beside Mark and Billy. "And Fusion Flame Princess gave her life to save us!"
Billy looked at Serah's broken arm and called out Nano Eddy. "Hold on a sec. Let's get that thing patched up." Nano Eddy then went to work on healing Serah's broken arm.
Serah let out a sigh of relief as she felt the pain in her arm fading a little. "Thanks, Billy." She said gratefully.
Mark turned his attention back to Jason. "Hey, Jason, where are you going?" he yelled.
"I'm going after my sister! She's under Fuse's influence and attacked us!"
"She's under Fuse's influence?! How is that possible?!" asked Billy.
"No clue but I'm going to find out!" Jason turned away from his friends. "Try to catch up soon! I think we're close to Professor Plutonium!" And with that he ran down a hallway that was on the other side of the doorway, leaving his three friends behind.
"And there he goes." said Billy. "Off to save his sister."
"We'd better hurry and get up there. Who knows what danger he'll be in when he confronts her." said Serah.
"We will as soon as your arm is healed up a little more." Mark looked at his the doorway again. "Until then we just have to have faith in him."
Jason ran down a long, dimly-lit hallway in pursuit of his sister. His heart was racing and he felt as though he may collapse from exhaustion and stress. Learning his sister was Arreba shocked him to the core and at the same time it angered him beyond belief. His own sister had been turned into a living weapon and was used against him. He wanted to believe it was not true, but he knew it was, so now he was even more determined to save his sister. No matter what the cost, he would save her and kill the bastard who changed her.
Eventually the hallway opened up into a big round room with what appeared to be a stage in the middle. Standing atop the stage, wearing a red lab coat with tentacles coming out of his back, was Professor Plutonium. "Hello, Subject 001. So we finally meet." He said.
Jason glared at the dark Professor and pulled out his weapon. "Where is she?" he demanded.
"She? Oh, you must mean your sister. Why, she's right here of course." Lucy stepped out from behind Professor Plutonium. Her eyes were still blood red and she was still carrying her Fusion Matter-infused Wrench Sword. "Do you like her new look?"
"Bastard. What did you do to her?!" snapped Jason.
Professor Plutonium chuckled. "I can't tell you that. I promised my master I wouldn't. And besides" he pat Lucy's head. "You wouldn't understand anyways."
Seeing the Fusion touch his sister infuriated Jason. "DON'T TOUCH HER!" he snapped, leaping at him.
However, Lucy leapt at him and knocked him out of the air, causing him to crash into the ground with a loud 'oof'.
"I would not recommend attacking me. I made it so that if someone were to attack me, Lucy would come in and protect me. She belongs to me now. Her free will, gone. Her mind, gone. She is a living, breathing, killing machine."
Jason sat up and stared at his sister. "Lucy, come on. Snap out of it."
"She can't hear you."
"SHUT UP!"
Jason held his weapon out in front of him before Lucy could hit him with hers, blocking her attack and making her stumble backwards. The two then continued their battle as Professor Plutonium watched from the sidelines. Jason was now fighting in blind rage. No longer was he paying attention to what he was doing
Eventually Jason managed to gain the upper hand and knocked Lucy onto her back. Now he was standing over her, his weapon raised to make the finishing blow.
"Yes go ahead, boy. Kill your little sister. Do it." said Professor Plutonium.
As soon as Jason heard this statement, he snapped back to his senses and looked down in horror at what he was seeing and at what he was about to do. He brought his weapon down and began to tremble. He let his anger get the better of him and it nearly killed his sister.
"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You should have killed her when you had the chance."
Suddenly Lucy swept Jason's feet out from under him, making him fall flat on his back, and rolled away from him. As Jason tried to stand up, Lucy tackled him to the ground and began to punch his face over and over again. He struggled to throw her off him but she was using her legs to hold his arms down beneath her.
'She's still in there. I know she is. I just have to call out to her. Give the chance to. Come on!'
Eventually she pried Jason's weapon free from his grip and held it over him to make the finishing blow.
However, before she got the chance to do so, Jason took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and shouted "LUCY DON'T YOU RECOGNIZE YOUR OWN BROTHER? IT'S JASON!"
Lucy froze. She sat still, her arms raised and still wielding the weapon, but after a few seconds she began to shake uncontrollably. Once Jason became aware of this his eyes snapped open and saw Lucy's eyes rapidly shifting between her natural brown eyes and the Fusion's blood red eyes. Jason felt tears well up in his eyes and he continued calling out to her. "Come on, Lucy! Fight it! I know you can do it!"
Lucy had tears in her eyes and she was hoarsely whispering. "It hurts… So much… Make it stop… Make it stop… Help me… Big brother…"
Professor Plutonium clicked his tongue. "How interesting. It appears that there is a little bit of her still in there after all." He took out a small device and grabbed a dial on it though. "I can fix that though. Let's see what happens when we turn the aggression level up to max."
He cranked the dial up to the max power and Lucy shrieked in pain. She dropped her weapon, grabbed her head, and fell over, curling into a ball. Jason sat up and looked at his sister, who was in excruciating pain. "LUCY!" He grabbed is weapon and moved to her side. "What's wrong? What did he do to you? Come on, talk to me!"
Instead Lucy punched him in the gut so hard it sent him flying across the room. Once Jason hit a wall he coughed up what he ate before the assault on the Power Plant. As he looked up to look at his sister, he saw her standing up, her eyes once again blood red, but there was something different about her this time. She seemed more dangerous. Eviler so to speak.
"What now? What did you do no?!" he snapped at Professor Plutonium.
"I merely adjusted her level of aggression towards her opponents. I have no clue what effects it will have on her though so this should be interesting to watch."
"You bastard. I'm going to-"
Lucy ran over and kicked Jason into the air, knocking the wind out of him. She ran up the wall after him and before she could hit him again Jason managed to pull his weapon up to block her and reorient himself in the air.
"I programmed the Control Seeds to accelerate in strength depending on their feelings towards the people they are fighting. Feelings like sorrow, sadness, rage, and especially hatred." Professor Plutonium laughed a little after. "Who knows. She probably hates you for something and that's why she wants you dead so badly."
Jason landed smoothly and looked at his sister. "Hates me? Hates me for what? What could I have done that would make her hate me?" Jason and Lucy charged at each other again. Lucy grabbed her weapon during her charge and the two clashed blades once again. Lucy swung her weapon towards Jason's side, but it was easily countered by Jason, who then tried to hit her side with the blunt side of his weapon. Lucy, however, was not going to let this happen, so she leaned backwards into an arch-like shape before pulling her legs up, hooked them around Jason's waist, and slammed him into the ground
Jason quickly pried himself free and skipped backwards to gain some distance, but Lucy didn't let him have it as she slashed at him relentlessly. She managed to tear Jason's shirt open, but that was it before he kicked her weapon out of her hands. She growled and got ready to lunge but Jason kicked her side hard while saying "I'm sorry". The kick sent her crashing into the stage.
Now that Jason had some breathing room, he began to try to think of something his sister would hate him for. The years they have not seen each other so it can't have been something recent. They parted ways before the Battle for Sector V on good terms and the same before he left for the experiment. She used to adore him so much that he could not understand why she would hate him.
Then it hit him. His sister really did ADORE him when they were little. They did a lot of things together and he was always there for her. The fact he left without telling her must have left her heartbroken. It was a petty thing to hate him for but even the pettiest of things can have the strongest of meanings emotionally. In his mind he saw what it must have looked like when his sister found out he was not there anymore. She probably cried a little, knowing her big brother, the boy who showed her nothing but kindness and sincerity, was now gone. Mom and dad probably cried too, but she would have been the most heartbroken.
Eventually that sadness would turn bitter and become hatred because he left without telling her anything. No goodbye. No see you later. Nothing. It was so ridiculous but at the same time, for the two of them, it was the most painful thing he could have done to her.
Jason looked down and tossed his weapon to the side. He now knew what he had to do.
Lucy stood up once again and glared at Jason. She didn't even bother to grab a weapon when she charged this time. Her goal was to rip him to shreds once she got the chance to.
Time seemed to slow down as she got closer and closer to him, and the closer she got the more confident he felt. Soon they were in arm's reach of each other and Jason was the one to make the first move. Quick as a bullet, he lunged forward and bear hugged his sister, pinning her arms to her sides while doing so. She screamed and thrashed about in his grip as she tried to break free, but he did not let go.
"Lucy I'm sorry!" he cried out, tears in his eyes.
His sister suddenly stopped moving.
Professor Plutonium tilted his head to the side. "An apology? What are you up to…"
"I'm sorry I hurt you. All those years ago, I never told you my plan and left you alone. I was selfish and left you behind without thinking about what you would think." He felt stupid a little but at the same time relieved. Tears began to roll down his cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry…"
He kept repeating that statement over and over again, and as he did so Lucy's mind began to take control of her body back. The green Control Seed on the back of her neck cracked more and more with each second as tears welled up in her eyes as well. Soon, the Control Seed made a popping sound and it shattered, leaving a small hole on the back of Lucy's neck, and as soon as it shattered she took a deep breath and threw her arms around her brother as she too began to sob.
Jason continued to apologize over and over again, not knowing his sister was free from the Control Seed, however now he was sobbing as he felt the true grief from what he had done wash over him. The two siblings stood there, sobbing in each other's embraces. When Jason noticed his sister was crying, he began to feel like a big brother again, reliving a moment from their past, but that moment faded when he saw the seed was gone. Upon seeing this, he knew his sister was free.
"Lucy… Lucy I-"
She looked at him and smiled, tears still in her eyes. "Don't *sniff* Don't say it again. I heard you. I forgive you… I… I knew you'd come for me." Her smile then turned into a pained frown as she began to sob again. "It hurt so much… having that thing being put on me… I felt like I was being branded… That I was no longer myself… It hurt so much. It hurt so much." She sobbed more and more, clutching onto Jason's torn shirt.
Jason gently brushed her hair with his hand while shushing her in a gentle, soothing manner. "It's okay. Big brother's here now. *sniff* I won't let them hurt you again. I promise."
Professor Plutonium sighed and tossed his device aside. "What a pity. And to think that I originally thought that experiment was a success… Oh well. I guess now I have to take matters into my own hands."
Well, there you have it. Chapter 36. As I said before this will have a part 4.
Review
There was so much I wanted to put into one chapter that I may have gone a little overboard. It took a lot of strength to keep myself in control at the end because once I got the what can be seen as the ending paragraph, I basically said to myself "That's enough. We have what they want."
Chapter 37 will end the 3rd arc. I promise. I am sorry for making you all wait a little longer. *sighs* My imagination can only make so much magic when I am in specific states of mind.
I have to go now, everyone. Bye.
Roxanne Coronabelongs to Lindipity
Agent Bannon Clawsonbelongs to Man of Cartoons.
Ace Shadowingbelongs to someone who was (or still is) a Guest on this site. The owner of this OC knows who he/she is even though I do not know.
Teddy Anglebugbelongs to cmarston1.
Arthur T. Kingbelongs to Novanto.
Conner Casterbelongs to Kyle West.
Sam Tectonbelongs to "Dan" (I cannot get a hold of the account page he has [and his account is/was titled Dan] so I presume he may have lost his account.)
Here's something for you readers. As of now, I am taking requests to put a character that you, the player/reader, had made and used in FusionFall. Add the name of your character in the review and I will do my best to add them in. Whether they have big roles or not is up to me, but I will try to have them appear in the fanfic.