Tainted fal'Cie
A/N: Another chapter is up! Thanks everyone for your patience, reviews and support.
Warning: There is some graphic scenes and mild language ahead. If you like neither of those, now would be the time to close your browser or go to another page. You have been warned!
For those of you who have left unsigned reviews, see my replies below:
Riku91 - Thanks for the review! ^^ It will definitely be an intense fight, and you'll see what I mean as the chapters progress. ;) As for who lives and who dies after this battle, only time will tell... XD Enjoy the chapter. :)
black. dot - Thanks for the comment. :) That was one of the longer chapters, but this one and the next one are even longer. ;) As for Fang and Vanille's secret, that was not it. I can't really tell you what it is as it will be revealed later on towards the end. But what I can tell you, it's the same secret they were talking about just before they made it to Cheis and Serah smacked Fang. Hehe. Here's the next chapter for you. ^^
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.
*** ~ Chapter 44: Scramble at Dawn ~ ***
Alone, Her Providence would not have the strength to seal the chaos whole.
Even with the will of her messengers, sacrifice still was required.
- The Stolen Sermons of the seeress Paddra Nsu-Yeul
A massive explosion shook New Oerba, the epicentre of it just outside of the New Oerban Medical Centre. Windows rattled and exploded in a hail of glass. Walls quaked and rumbled. Cracks streaked across metal and concrete like forked lightning. Those inside the medical centre scrambled for cover under tables and desks as the ceiling collapsed upon their heads. Then all fell silent and everyone remembered how to breathe.
"What... was that?"
Yuj and Gadot looked at each other before scampering to their feet and running towards the column of dust in the distance. Having been unable to sleep, both men decided to patrol the settlement in the hopes of calming their already frayed nerves. Hundreds of soldiers were of the same mind, many of them milling about town as they waited. Just as the pair passed the Eastern patrol camp, the direction Proganochelys was expected to appear, something fell from the heavens causing the booming eruption which sent both men scrambling.
By the time Yuj and Gadot reached the scene, dozens of soldiers were already there, their rifles raised as they investigated the surrounding area. Unfortunately, the dust from the blast still lingered heavily in the air, and none of them could make heads or tails of anything within the shroud. One brave soldier, his armor's colours marking him from the Neo Palumpolum settlement, ventured into the dust cloud. With his rifle clutched tightly in one hand, he waved his free hand in front of him in the hopes of clearing the air. Then he fell.
At the sound of a startled yelp, all the soldiers surrounding the dust cloud instantly clicked off the safeties from their weapons, their fingers twitching over the triggers. Yuj and Gadot did the same, both men tensed in nervous anticipation of what came next.
"I'm alright! I'm alright!" the fallen soldier exclaimed. He coughed, waving a hand in front of his helmet. Dust shot past his helmet's air filters the moment he face planted on the ground. One moment there was solid ground under his feet, and in the next, the dirt literally disappeared from under him.
Blindly feeling the ground around him for his lost rifle, the Neo Palumpolum soldier realized he was now in a crater of sorts, the impact of whatever fell from the sky making quite the deep rut in the ground. It would take another two minutes of patting the ground around him before the soldier located his weapon. Immediately, the soldier crawled up to it on his hands and knees, thanking the Maker.
"Oye! You alright in there buddy?" Gadot was getting restless, just standing around and waiting. He still couldn't see a damned thing, the dust being thicker than molasses. But seeing that no one had died yet, and that they had yet to open fire on anything, he supposed that was a good sign. Then things went to shit.
"I'm still here!" the Neo Palumpolum soldier shouted back. He snatched his weapon off the ground, greatly relieved to have it back in his hands. It was then he caught sight of something in front of him, despite his diminished vision due to the still lingering dust cloud.
"How about you hurry back out here where it's safe, huh?"
The soldier squinted at the thing, trying to get a better look of what he started at. Squinting did very little however, but as shrouded as the area was, he definitely knew he wasn't hallucinating. "Hey!" he shouted. "I think I found something!"
Inching closer with his rifle raised, the Neo Palumpolum soldier poked the object with the nozzle of his weapon. It was as hard as rock and shaped just the same. Was this some sort of meteor? Or was it perhaps a piece of debris which had fallen from Crystal Cocoon? That would have explained the loud boom it made when it hit the ground, and the crater he was in. A fall from that distance would surely leave a mark.
Not a moment later, the debris moved, unravelling itself to reveal a red eye in which the soldier could see his own reflection. A blood curdling scream sounded soon after, the cloud of dust lighting up with flashes of gunfire. Everyone opened fire, shooting blindly into the dust cloud, rifles aimed downward where muzzle flares were seen.
"Hold your fire!" Gadot shouted. He flinched as some stray bullets bit the dust near his feet. A few soldiers to his left cried out in pain, getting clipped by a few stray bullets themselves. "HOLD YOUR FIRE!"
After what seemed like hours (which in fact was actually less than a minute), the gunfire finally stopped, everyone holding their breaths in horror and fear. It was quiet again, with the exception of booted feet on the other side of town now racing towards them after hearing the commotion. Something shot straight up into the air from the dust cloud before landing with a wet crunch behind Yuj and the soldiers next to him. The blue haired Team NORA member slowly turned around.
Yuj wanted to throw up.
There, in a bloody heap, was the mangled remains of the Neo Palumpolum soldier.
Before anyone could panic, an ear piercing screech sounded, everyone scrambling backwards with their hands or fists over their ears. A fierce wind rushed through the area dissipating the dust cloud immediately to reveal the Neo Palumpolum soldier's killer.
"Maker!"
Stone flesh elongated outwards mimicking large feathers. Two webbed stone feet clawed at the dirt restlessly, a stump of a stone head twisting left and right at seemingly impossible angles. At one point, Gadot swore the thing turned its head all the way around as if it had no neck. It looked like a stone chocobo, in a sick and twisted kind of way. One had to tilt their head at a funny angle to really see any comparison though. The creature was two heads taller than Gadot, and probably doubly as wide. The fact that it had a red fleshy eye on its abdomen left the mohawk-haired man gaping.
Gadot ripped open the door to Snow and Serah's house, stumbling through the threshold just as another tainted l'Cie crash landed nearby. Never in his life had Gadot run that fast before. Despite Snow telling them all about the tainted l'Cies and his experiences with them over the course of their journey, never once did Gadot think they would be so horrifying. Gadot was not the type of man that got scared easily. Hell, he couldn't even remember the last time he was truly scared of anything. But as of right now, the strong man was shaking in his boots.
"Boss!" Gadot exclaimed. He raced over to Snow and Serah, both of them half lying and half sitting on the floor next to their bed in a daze. "They're here!" he said dragging the pair to their feet.
The main floor of the Farron residence mirrored Lightning's second floor above. It was just one large rectangular space with the bedroom, kitchen, dining room and bathroom combined into one, specific sections of the floor designated to certain living spaces.
"What?" Snow stumbled to his feet from Gadot's upward yank. The blonde's hair was a mess, the former l'Cie shirtless. Snow looked like he had just fallen out of bed, along with Serah, which probably wasn't too far from the truth.
"Slow down Gadot!" Snow said putting his hands on Gadot's shoulders to still the man's fidgeting. "What are you talking about?"
"The tainted l'Cies!" Gadot said with barely contained horror. "They're are here! We're under attack!"
Two sets of blue eyes widened.
"But they weren't supposed to be here for another few hours!" Serah exclaimed. The youngest Farron was shaking. The explosions outside continued as more tainted l'Cies fell from the sky like hail.
"Well, they're here now!" Gadot said, quickly handing Snow his white coat and Serah her belts of hunting knives. Their things were hanging off the bed posts for easy pickings. "We have to hurry! Everyone is running around in madness."
Gunfire erupted outside, distorted squeals and squawks along with them. By the time the trio made it out of the house, utter chaos had consumed the settlement. People were screaming, tainted l'Cies were charging, and soldiers everywhere were spraying bullets wherever they could, hitting everything but the tainted l'Cies themselves. Snow pushed Serah in the direction of the metal staircase leading up to Lightning's level.
"Where are the others?" Snow shouted over all the noise.
"Yuj went to get Maqui and Le-"
BOOM!
The house on the opposite side of the street to the Farron residence half imploded.
"Son of a bitch!" Gadot exclaimed, instinctively raising his hands to shield his head.
The trio paused midway up the steel staircase, turning to look at the now ruined house. Emerging from the rubble was a tainted l'Cie, the same type of twisted stone bird creature Gadot had glimpsed just moments ago. Gadot roared, swinging his rifle off his back, charging at the corrupted creature as he peppered the tainted l'Cie with bullets.
"Gadot!" Snow gritted his teeth, quickly turning back to his fiance. "Hurry Serah!" he said, urgently shoving the pinkette forward again. "Get to Lightning and stay there!" Snow turned back to follow after his muscled friend only to stop when a small hand grabbed his arm. "Serah?"
"Come back to me safe," Serah said, forcing a smile.
Snow's expression softened. "A hero never dies." Leaning forward, lips met lips, the young couple sharing a passion kiss before Snow raced off into the heat of battle.
"Dad!" Hope climbed the stairs three at a time when he could manage. The silver haired boy was startled awake by a large bang which came from upstairs, shaking the whole house. Soon after, gunfire followed.
Hope burst through the door to his father's office, sliding to a halt after taking one step into the room. The ceiling on the far end of the room was caved in, the metal roofing twisted and broken by some unknown force. On the floor nearest the door, taking cover behind his over turned desk was Bartholomew, firing his pistol at the tainted l'Cie which crashed his room. The stone bird raised a wing in front of its face, protecting the red eye on its abdomen. Bullets pinged off the raised limb uselessly, doing no damage at all, not even leaving a mark. When the pistol clicked empty, the tainted l'Cie darted forward at the eldest Estheim.
"Dad!" Hope threw his hand forward, calling forth the strongest Thundaga he could muster.
Nothing happened.
Blue-green eyes widened in horror.
Hope wasn't wearing his L'Cie Driver. It was still ruined from before, his father not having the spare parts to fix it. They didn't even have the resources to create new ones for Hope, Snow or Sazh either. Everything was being diverted to the research division, to create new weapons for their fight against Proganochelys.
The tainted l'Cie leapt into the air, zooming in for the kill.
"NO!" Hope dashed forward, his boomerang leaving his hand in a whirl. While the weapon connected, it did nothing more than make the tainted l'Cie flinch. Hope screamed, reaching out to grab at his father's shoulder just as the tainted l'Cie came down upon their heads.
Protect bubbled to life, Hope's Bubble Guard expanding outwards into a translucent, hexagonal patterned barrier around the two Estheims. The tainted l'Cie screeched, connecting with the protective shield jarringly, before being flung backwards into the wall like an overextended rubber band. Two shots rang out, red flesh popping like a balloon as the tainted l'Cie howled before it disintegrated to ash and disappeared. Bartholomew lowered his smoking pistol, his gun shaking in a white knuckled grip.
"T-those things are more intelligent than we originally thought," the elder Estheim said, once he got his wits about him again. Hope could only stare at the gaping hole torn through the metal ceiling.
"Are you alright, Hope?"
"I'm fine, Dad," Hope replied, helping his father to his feet. "What's going on?"
With the immediate, deadly threat gone, the sounds from outside finally made it to their ears. Looking at each other for a moment, Hope and Bartholomew darted out of Bartholomew's office, ran down the stairs and out the front door of their house. What they saw left them gaping.
"But they weren't supposed to be here for another few hours!" Hope said in disbelief.
"Either our calculations were wrong or this is an advanced scouting party of some sort."
Gunfire and shouts sounded everywhere in New Oerba, flashes of light flickering all over the settlement. Bartholomew flinched when a tainted l'Cie crashed to the ground nearby. The soldiers closest to it immediately sought to eliminate the threat.
"Hope," Bartholomew said, turning to face his son. "We need to activate the Resonance Wall."
Hope's eyes widened. "I thought you said it couldn't cover everything!"
"It can't," Bartholomew reaffirmed.
"But if we activate it now, what about all the people who get caught outside the barrier?"
"We can't worry about that now," Bartholomew said grimly. He rested his hands on Hope's shoulders. "We need to focus on ensuring the settlement is safe. That is our first priority. Then everything else comes after that."
Hope stared at his father, stunned. In researching the Bubble Guard to protect the former l'Cies, Bartholomew was also able to replicate an almost settlement sized version of the Bubble Guard, dubbed the Resonance Wall. The Resonance Wall used the same Resonance Crystal Generators as the Resonance Rail Guns. About the size of a small crate, weighing just under seventy-five pounds, dozens of these semi-portable generators were placed around the buildings of New Oerba in a hexagonal pattern. When all of the generators were activated, they linked to each other to form a giant Resonance Wall.
Under normal circumstances, that would have been enough to protect all of New Oerba. But with the influx of soldiers from all over Gran Pulse, many of them had to set up camp just outside of the boundaries of the settlement. With the Resonance Wall in place, while anything inside of it could leave the barrier, anything trapped outside of it would remain trapped outside until the barrier fell, or until a small doorway could be created to let things in. They hadn't quite found a way to make a stable hole in the settlement shield yet, that being the last thing they had left to do in the few hours before the final battle.
"Dad-"
Screams caused both Estheims to jump, Bartholomew and Hope jerking their heads towards the sound. The tainted l'Cie from before broke through the semi circle of soldiers combating it, tossing the men into the air like rag dolls. Before any of them could recover or even hit the ground, stone wings shot upwards skewering the men on rock feathers. Hope went pale. These tainted l'Cies were so much stronger than any they had ever fought before. It was horrifying. Limp, bloody bodies dropped to the ground. The tainted l'Cie looked in their direction and charged.
Bartholomew raised his pistol and opened fire. The tainted l'Cie instantly pivoted on its webbed feet and began to spin on its spot like a top, stone wings wrapping around its body. Bullets ricocheted harmlessly off of stone flesh, the red flesh eye unharmed when the tainted bird stopped its movements to look at them again. Before either of them could react, a burst of blue energy roared past the pair causing them to duck to the left out of instinct. The tainted l'Cie cried out, red flesh bursting when blue energy connected with it. It disintegrated into dust.
"Yeah! How do you like that!" Maqui cheered, pushing up his goggles from his eyes. In his hand was one of Bartholomew's prototype Crystal Energy Launchers, otherwise nicknamed the CEL. Lebreau and Yuj were with Maqui.
"You guys alright?" Lebreau asked, looking around nervously, armed with a CEL of her own.
Before either Hope or Bartholomew could reply, something exploded off to the side of the group, knocking them all off of their feet. Dust cleared quickly, revealing yet another tainted l'Cie, the corrupted bird's wings opened wide and its head twisting this way and that. The moment it caught sight of the downed group, the tainted l'Cie turned its body square to them, preparing to charge.
Maqui and Lebreau scrambled for their CELs, Yuj the same, looking for his rifle. Bartholomew caught sight of his pistol, but it was too far away and he would never reach it in time. Hope got to his hands and knees, the toes of his shoes digging into the road underneath him. If he had to, he would act like the group's moving Bubble Guard, running to intercept the thing when needed. Until someone got a hold of their weapon to take the tainted creature out that is. His boomerang would be useless in this situation, as these tainted l'Cies not only proved intelligent, but as quick as a chocobo. Hope wouldn't be able to hit them even if he tried.
BANG!
The tainted l'Cie lurched forward, Hope instantly activating his Bubble Guard out of reflex. The twisted stone creature's head bounced hard against Hope's barrier, the silver haired boy gritting his teeth as he felt the device suck out a large amount of magic to maintain the shield around him. Staggering backwards, with its head snapping upwards from the momentum, the tainted l'Cie spun around dazedly in its spot trying to locate what hit it originally.
CLICK.
Sazh snapped a fresh magazine into his rifle before taking aim again. "This is gonna sting." The rifle fired.
Red flesh exploded like a raging volcano, the tainted l'Cie screeching distortedly before disintegrating into dust. Black ash quickly dissipated in the soft wind.
"Did ya see that coming!" Sazh shook his fist at the sky. Feeve trotted up next to Sazh with Dajh on his back.
"Mr. Katzroy," Bartholomew said, shakily rising to his feet and dusting himself off. "You have impeccable timing."
"Is everyone alright?" Sazh quickly gave them all a once over, the gunner relieved to see all of them looking no worse for wear.
"We're alive thanks to you," Yuj said, now on his feet and dusting the last bit of dirt off his jacket.
"Yeah! Thanks!" Maqui chirped. Lebreau nodded at Sazh with a smile.
"Now that that's over, can someone please tell me what's going on?" An explosion in the distance made the gunner flinch. Sazh tightened his grip on his rifle. "One moment it was quiet, and in the next, things were falling from the sky. I thought the Tainted's l'Cies weren't supposed to be here for another few hours!"
"I suspect they're an advanced attack group meant to throw us into chaos until the real threat gets here." Bartholomew said grimly.
"Proganochelys," Hope said through clenched teeth. He made a fist.
"Well, they're certainly doing a good job of that so far," Lebreau said in disgust. She looked up at the sky, her eye spotting a tainted l'Cie as it fell.
"We need to get some form of order quickly, or we won't have a chance when the rest of them get here."
"Gadot has already gone to get Snow," Yuj said. "We were about to start forming up ranks ourselves."
"We still need to get the barrier up," Hope said turning to Bartholomew. The silver haired boy frowned. He didn't like his father's plan, but it was the best one they had right now.
"The outer generators must be activated first before the central one can link them all up to form the Resonance Wall."
"But what about if some of them are damaged?" Hope bit his lip. If they needed all of the generators operational for the thing to work, they were screwed.
"Only half of them need to be operational for the barrier to work," Bartholomew continued. "Anymore beyond that will only strengthen it further."
"If they're damaged, I may be able to fix them," Maqui said, raising his hand hesitantly. "I've been watching the engineers, so I know how they work. Sort of."
"Now wait just a minute!" Lebreau protested. The raven haired bartender had her hands on her hips. "It's all good and well to get the generators going, but we're talking about making a dash around New Oerba's perimeter in a matter of minutes. Even for you guys, that's impossible."
"We'll have to pass by the stables and pick up some chocobos then," Hope countered.
"Are you kidding me?" Lebreau raised her eyebrows at Hope. "In this mess?" She gestured to the chaos behind her. "They're probably all panicked and useless by now. And don't even talk about how your supposed to get to them in the first place."
"Take Feeve," Sazh said. He lifted Dajh off the yellow bird and set him down on the ground. "He's the fastest chocobo around here and probably the only one who doesn't scare easily. He'll easily manage with both of you on his back."
"Kweh." Feeve nodded.
"I'll find the rest of my team as soon as I can and have them also head out to activate the generators with you," Bartholomew added.
"As soon as I get Dajh to safety, I'll join you," Sazh said to the older Estheim.
"We'll help too," Yuj said.
"No," Bartholomew said with the shake of his head. "You need to get the soldiers in order if we're to have any chance in this fight."
"But it will be just the two of them against who knows what!" Yuj exclaimed. He turned to Hope and Maqui.
"We'll be fine," Hope said.
Maqui nodded.
"But-"
Lebreau put a hand on Yuj's shoulder. She smiled at him but shook her head.
"Don't worry Yuj," Maqui said. "We can do it. Trust us."
"Maqui, how many was that?"
"Eight so far, I think."
Feeve ran full tilt around the slowly brightening edge of the New Oerba settlement. Dawn would be upon them soon, but the fighting had yet to stop. Tainted l'Cies continued to rain down from the sky, though thankfully for the pair of boys, they were focused on the settlement and not the outskirts.
"This one will make nine." Maqui, with a tight fistful of feathers in his right hand, leaned left until he was parallel with the ground. Nearing the next mini generator, Feeve dashed towards the device running along side it without stopping. In a well timed smash of his fist, Maqui slammed the activation button on the top of the device. With a quick glance behind them, both boys verified the successful activation of the crystal generator by the now lit holographic control panel screen which floated above it.
It took them quite a few tries to figure out that technique. For the first two generators, Hope had Feeve stop nearby while both boys jumped off the chocobo, trotted over to the generator and activated it. They then hoped back onto Feeve's back, Feeve running up to the next generator, only for them to repeat the process again. While it ensured the same results, it took much too long.
For the next three generators, Feeve, being the smart chocobo that he is, tried a run by pecking move, as a means of activating the generator. But while he may have been good at attacking enemies with his sharp and accurate beak, the button had difficulty registering the hit to officially activate it. And after Feeve almost destroyed the offending device kick boxing style, both Hope and Maqui agreed that method didn't work either.
"Number ten!" Hope said, activating the next generator they came across.
"How many more to go after this one?"
"I don't know!" Hope shouted back to his companion. "Until the Resonance Wall comes up, we keep go-whoa!"
Feeve skidded to a halt within visual range of the next mini crystal generator, causing both Hope and Maqui to lunge forward before they caught themselves.
"What was tha-"
"WARK!" Feeve narrowed his eyes ahead.
"Oh no."
Twenty feet away, surrounding the next generator were three tainted l'Cies. The corrupted stone birds stared at the device, turning their heads this way and that in examination.
"Can't we just sneak around them?" Maqui whispered, afraid to be heard at even this distance.
"We can," Hope whispered back. "But if they-"
As one, the three tainted l'Cies pecked at the mini generator, the outer shell of the device quickly bending and denting under the combined attacks. Hope and Maqui watched in horror as the mini Resonance Crystal Generator exploded shortly afterwards, in an eruption of blue energy. The ensuing shock wave sent the pair crashing to the ground, Feeve toppling over as well. Once the dust cleared from the explosion, all that remained of the generator and the tainted l'Cies was a burnt crater in the ground.
"I don't believe it," Maqui said, rising to his feet and dusting himself off. "How did they know to destroy it?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if another tainted l'Cie told them to do it," Hope said scoffing.
"What?" Maqui looked at his companion in shock.
"Trust me," Hope said, dusting Feeve off. The chocobo was unharmed, though his feathers were quite ruffled, figuratively and literally. "You don't want to know."
"What if it was a fluke?" Maqui said, also helping to dust off their ride. "I mean, they could have just stumbled across it by accident and didn't know any better."
Both boys startled at the sound of a loud hum, the last activated generator far behind them, yet still within sight, shooting a pillar of blue energy up into the sky.
"Are they... supposed to do that?" Hope asked, his brow creasing.
"Umm… maybe?"
"Maybe?" Hope whirled around to face Maqui. "I thought you knew how those things worked."
Maqui scratched the back of his head wearily. Feeve turned the right side of his head towards the blonde to stare at him.
Maqui swallowed. "I only watched the engineers when they were putting them together. I'm not quite sure how they work."
"Maqui!"
"No one would let me tinker with them!" the blonde said in his own defense.
Hope face palmed. "We need to get moving, now!" Hope jumped onto Feeve a moment later.
"Huh?"
"If the tainted l'Cies didn't know about the generators before, they certainly do now." Hope looked back to the identical pillars of blue energy shooting up into the sky from all of the previous generators they had activated. There were a few blue energy pillars on the other side of the settlement up as well.
"It doesn't matter how many generators we activate. If the tainted l'Cies destroy them all before we get them all up, everything would be for nothing."
"Yer gonna squirm!"
Kain's Lance tore through the red flesh of a tainted l'Cie. The stone corruption howled as it disintegrated into ash before dissipating completely. Nearby, Nirvana's wires tangled around another tainted beast, holding it in place for an easy kill.
"This is madness!" Fang twirled her spear around in the air, whipping off black blood from her prized weapon. "Ya'd swear it was the Tainted's birthday or somethin'!"
Soldiers continued to scramble around New Oerba, frantically trying to defend the settlement from the tainted invaders. By now however, they had achieved some form of order and the fighting was not so panicked. The Team NORA members, Snow, Sazh, along with Amodar and Rydgea, led the soldiers in a frontal assault against their enemy. Sweeper teams now moved up and down the streets, taking out any and all tainted l'Cies they came across.
Bartholomew was able to find some of his research team, all of whom had been sent out to activate the border generators followed by soldier escorts. There was no word yet from Hope or Maqui, but considering the border generators had been going up without a hitch so far, everyone assumed things were going well. Fang and Vanille remained with Bartholomew, while the head scientist began the start up procedure for the central Resonance Crystal Generator for the Resonance Wall. If this one fell, it didn't matter how many outer ones lit up, it simply wouldn't have worked. A small contingent of Amodar's soldiers remained with them.
"Hey Bart!" Fang looked over her shoulder at the frazzled scientist. "How much longer?"
Bartholomew's fingers flew over the holographic screen floating above the centreal crystal generator with impressive speed. "Just a few more and then we're good to go."
"How much is a few?"
Fang scanned the area, every so often the huntress glancing back over her shoulder at Vanille. The redhead was on the other side of Bartholomew and the generator, watching the opposite direction for trouble. So far, resistance had been light. These tainted l'Cies, by the looks of them tainted Dagonites, were the small fries. For the former l'Cies, those who retained their magic that is, namely Fang and Vanille, these corrupted beasts weren't worth the effort. But to the unseasoned soldier, like many of the borrowed soldiers from other settlements, they were a handful.
"Only two more to go." Bartholomew murmured. His eyes focused on the screen intensely, waiting for the counter to go down to zero. "Damn it."
"What is it?" Vanille turned back to look at the eldest Estheim.
"The tainted l'Cies have found the outer generators." Bartholomew looked towards the west, where one of the pillars of blue energy disappeared. Another one fizzled out to the south.
Bartholomew bit his lip. "Hopefully the others can get the rest up faster than the ones going down."
"At least they haven't sent in the big guys yet," Vanille said cheerily. "Then we would-"
BOOM!
Everyone ducked their heads, arms raised to shield their faces. Fifteen feet from the central Resonance Crystal Generator was a massive cloud of dust. The houses on either side of the explosion were completely destroyed. A gust of wind blew through the area, the dust flitting away revealing a large and angry looking tainted l'Cie.
"Ya jus' had ta say somethin', didn't ya?" Fang glared at Vanille.
"Hehe… whoops?"
Unlike the previous and smaller tainted l'Cies which still bombarded town, this particular corrupted creature was much bigger and heavily armoured. Long stone-like scales webbed across its back and neck, the head and tail being the only unprotected section of uncovered stone skin. The tainted beast scaled across the ground on four legs, its movement very much lizard-like. It looked like an armadillo, except a thousand times bigger.
"Great," Fang scowled. "Jus' what we needed."
Amodar's soldiers raised their weapons and opened fire. Bullets bounced off of the tainted Navidon's armored scales harmlessly. A few of the soldiers used their Crystal Energy Launchers, only enraging the corrupted beast further but doing little else.
"Hold yer fire!" Fang shouted over the gun fire. "HOLD YER FIRE!"
Amodar's soldiers were a disciplined bunch, Fang had to credit the man for that. They immediately stopped firing at her order.
"Its eye is probably under its shell somewhere. Until we get that off, we're only wastin' ammo."
"And just how are we supposed to do that?" one of the soldiers asked. This particular soldier held one of Bartholomew's CELs.
"Vanille, yer up."
"Uh huh!" Vanille threw her left hand forward at the tainted Navidon, sending a barrage of elemental spells at the tainted l'Cie. Aero, Fire, Water, and finally Thunder, none of them did much damage except for the last one spell, which made the corrupted tank of a beast flinch.
"Come on! Come on!" Bartholomew mumbled to himself. The count on the generator holographic screen kept fluctuating between 2 and 1, the tainted l'Cies starting to take down the outer generators as fast as the others could activate them. If they didn't out-activate them soon, the Resonance Wall wouldn't work.
"Bart? How's it comin'?"
Vanille barraged the approaching tainted Navidon with Thundaga after Thundaga after Thundaga. Each time the tainted l'Cie flinched but looked no worse for wear. The CEL totting soldiers shot at the corrupted creatures legs in the hopes of slowing it down. Whether or not their attempts were successful, it was hard to tell.
"Just a bit longer, Fang," Bartholomew replied, sweat rolling down the side of his face as he waited.
Fang gritted her teeth, chancing a look up at the sky. New pillars of blue energy shot up, only for already active ones to drop down. A startled cry drew the Pulsian's attention back to the ground, just in time to see the tainted Navidon charge at the group, specifically at Vanille at an insane speed.
"Vanille!"
Fang darted passed soldiers and skidded to a halt in front of the redhead.
"Fang!"
Fang's brand flashed, Steelguard instantly going up as the tainted Navidon opened its maw and snapped at the huntress.
"They did it!" Bartholomew exclaimed. The count on the holo screen finally read zero, the eldest Estheim slamming his fist down on the launch button of the central generator.
A loud buzz filled the air, Vanille feeling the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck raising before the central Resonance Crystal Generator shot a beam of pure blue energy into the sky. The pillars of energy already coming from the outer mini generators curved towards the central beam, like the opposite ends of magnets attracting each other. One by one they connected with the central energy beam, a ring of energy exploding outwards from where the streaks of blue power met. Blue energy cascaded downwards in a wave, like water running down a translucent umbrella. The moment the wall of blue energy hit the ground, a soft chime came from the central Resonance Crystal Energy Generator. The Resonance Wall was finally up.
Thuds were heard soon after, the Resonance Wall barrier bending slightly when a tainted l'Cie hit it from the outside. The barrier wall soon righted itself as if nothing had ever happened. Claw and smash as the tainted l'Cies would, the Resonance Wall held, with the last remaining outer generators coming online only to strengthen it.
"That's all well an' good," Fang shouted, gritting her teeth. "But ya mind givin' me a hand here!"
The tainted Navidon thrashed in front of the Pulsian, Fang's spear jammed tightly in its mouth, keeping it propped open. The Oerban kept a tight hold of her spear, Fang's booted feet scrapping across the ground as the tainted beast tried to pull free from her. She refused to let it though, especially since she just got her spear fully upgraded.
"Pathetic!" Fang growled, stumbling forward after a particularly hard yank. She managed to right her footing before pulling back, stopping the retreating tainted Navidon in its tracks once again. Amodar's soldiers had their weapons raised, but did not fire. With Fang between them and the corrupted creature, they were afraid of hitting her.
"Fang! Get ready to fall back!" Bartholomew exclaimed. He quickly opened the side hatch to the central generator, gingerly pulling out two fist sized Resonance Crystals. The crystals flickered in his grasp, causing the former Sanctum scientist to freeze rigid the moment they did. When they regained their regular glowing lustre, only then did Bartholomew start to move again.
"What are you doing?" Vanille questioned, nervously looking back at the eldest Estheim.
"Improvising," Bartholomew said in a shaky whisper. Cradling the baseball sized crystals in his arms, Bartholomew slowly walked up next to Fang. Sweat rolled down the side of his face, his expression twisted in deep concentration. Despite the tainted Navidon's thrashings, Bartholomew reached inside of its pried open mouth and rested to two Resonance crystals on its tongue. Or at least, what he thought was the beast's tongue.
"What the hell are ya doin'?" Fang looked at the head scientist in shock. "Do ya wanna get eaten?"
Bartholomew flinched at the tone of Fang's voice, smiling at her wearily, thankful he no longer held such a dangerous load in his arms. Quickly he turned around and backtracked to Vanille again, a safe distance away. "On my mark, Sergeant, shoot those crystals. A bullet each should do."
The soldier to Bartholomew's right nodded.
"At the same time Fang, you get the hell out of the way."
"Say what?"
"Ready Fang?"
"Now wait just a minute-"
"On three..." Bartholomew said. The sergeant raised his weapon.
"Bart!"
"Three..." Bartholomew started the countdown. "Two..."
"Fang!"
"One! Now Sergeant!"
Fang's spear collapsed into three pieces, the Pulsian diving and rolling to the right just as the soldier fired. Stumbling backwards from the sudden lack of resistance, the tainted Navidon didn't have a chance to dodge the bullets which whizzed into its mouth and shattered the crystals. The tainted l'Cie suddenly stiffened, frozen in place before cracks of blue light fissured across its skin. Fang's eyes widened at the sight, the spear wielder activating her Bubble Guard just as the tainted l'Cie exploded with a distorted roar. The small explosion shook the entire area, sending those closest stumbling to remain upright.
"Did we get it?" came the shaky question after they all recovered from the blast.
Jade coloured eyes immediately searched the area for the tainted l'Cie. When she saw none in sight, Vanille couldn't but cheer. "Yay us!"
Fang stood up straight, disarming her Bubble Guard with a huff. She glared at Bartholomew. "Were ya tryin' ta kill me?"
Bartholomew cringed, wiping the sweat off his brow with a chuckle. "It was a calculated risk."
"Calculated? Ya lil'-"
"Fang." Vanille held onto Fang's arm before she could skewer the man. "We're alright and everyone is safe. Calm down."
Fang scoffed. They were unharmed, yes. For now. Those under the Resonance Wall, that is. But that would soon change the moment Proganochelys came marching into town. And when that happened, it wouldn't matter where you were.
A/N: For those of you who may have been confused, this chapter backtracks, starting three hours before the final confrontation with Proganochelys, and continues onwards from there.
Kain's Lance and Nirvana are the final forms of Fang and Vanille's weapons after being completely upgraded.
