Final Fantasy 7: The Hojo Clone
By Co V Schuler
Part 1: The Recovery
Chapter 7 (Continued six hours after end of Chapter 6)
Cloud jerked awake, the cold sweat and…cold water?! He looked around and saw that the quarters were flooding. Shit, he thought. "Hey," he yelled out. "What's goin' on?" No one replied. Six hours ago, they had tried to rescue Tifa from Lee but the torpedoes hit the sub before she could react. Then they looked around the wreckage for survivors but didn't find any. And Aeris is back. But she has only four days left before she dies again; automatically, the Planet reconstructed her body using Mako. The Mako is keeping her alive, sort of like her life force. Four days to destroy Lee. Not enough time…unless he died in the submarine. But Cloud doubted that.
Cloud hopped the top bunk and into the chest high water. It was freezing; the upcoming winter was beginning to attack. He made his way through the bunks and out of the room. His whole sub was flooding; not fast but sure enough, the water was rising.
"Aeris?" He called. No answer. What the hell is going on?
"Barret? Vincent?" Still no answer. Perhaps a torpedo hit them just…no that didn't make sense. I've only been asleep for a few hours. Four at the most. Cloud tried to think; I couldn't sleep through a torpedo hit.
The water reached his chin. He found the ladder to the deck and climbed up. It was shut, but water was definitely getting through it. Then it occurred to him that he might not want to go up. They might be under water. Cloud swam to a porthole and looked out. He could see the surface; the deck was probably about to submerge. He hurried back the ladder and unlatched the opening.
He barely had time to yell because water rushing in and he fell down the ladder and got a mouthful of salty water. Crap, he thought. Gotta' get to the top. He surfaced and got some air. Water was now rising fast. It hit his nose in two seconds. He faced up, got one more breath and went under.
He navigated through the water, using his burning eyes. They were screaming in pain. The salt poisoning them. He found the ladder and went up, the top a few yards away. Keep going, he told himself. You can do it. His breath was about to go out. Come on Cloud. Go go go.
He got out of his sinking sub and swam as fast as he cold. His lungs were going to burst. AAA he screamed mentally. Almost there. He let out the air and sucked in…water. Bubbles were all around him, he tried to keep going but the air…he surfaced! He spit out the water; choking and trying to get in some air.
"Uuuuggghhh."
The water was freezing cold. He looked around. Nothing but debris everywhere, remnants from Lee's sub. What happened to my sub, Cloud thought. Cloud shivered and turned his head to see…shore about two miles away. He treaded a little more and decided that he didn't have a choice. Where were the others? Did they make it out of the sub?
Then he felt something…a power. Sephiroth. Cloud shivered again and looked around. He couldn't see anybody. Someone was watching him. He felt their eyes and power. Lee had the power of Sephiroth. Stronger than Sephiroth. Cloud could feel it every time Lee was near Cloud.
Cloud continued swimming. Lee was near. Cloud felt the presence, the power of Lee.
Cloud looked around as he swam. The cold water was getting to him. He was getting weak. No, he told himself. Keep going. Shore was now about a mile away. Cloud paused and treaded. Lee was near. Where was he? Before Cloud could think the next thought, Something pulled him under and Cloud lost all his air.
Something was wrapped around his legs and pulling him further under. He looked under him and saw a human figure, swimming farther below. It looked up, revealing his identity. It was one of Lee's partners.
Cloud shook his head and shook his legs loose. Underwater fighting was not Cloud's best arena. He wrapped his legs around his attacker and squeezed the assassin's neck. The assassin let out a little air, the bubbles blocking his sight and then, all of a sudden the enemy was gone. Cloud frantically looked around and then realized he didn't have any air.
He went up to the surface and got some air. After a few deep breaths, he dived back down, seeing the bad guy coming toward him with…fins coming out of his feet?! What the…Cloud thought just before the speeding mutant hit him. Cloud rocked back from the impact. This guy was strong to go so fast underwater.
Cloud spotted him swimming away into the dark. Cloud pursued, aware that his eyes were burning bad. Then Cloud had an idea. He pulled out the Ragnnarok and kept swimming.
The figure suddenly turned around sped at him, going at least twenty knots in the water. Cloud blinked in amazement and raised his sword to attack. The enemy…the fish-human kept going at him, pulling out his own weapon. Another sword not as long or sharp as Cloud's but a sword that would do the job of killing someone.
As the figure sped past Cloud, it swung its sword at Cloud. Cloud seemed like he was in slow motion. He blocked the attack and the attacker kept going away. Cloud ran the attack back through his mind to what he had seen. The man had webbed feet and fingers. And he had fins sprouting out of his arms and knees. Cloud swam for the surface and got some air. Then he went back under and-
The attacker was right there! Cloud swung his sword over to block but felt something slice into his left hip. His own blade hit something and the figure went limp. Cloud pulled his sword out of the killer's neck, the head nearly separated from the rest of the body.
Cloud grimaced and went to the surface and shook his head. He felt very weak now, he energy all but consumed from the fight. Then, something hit his head and he lost consciousness.
Behind him, the dying creature treaded for a few more moments, then went underwater and kept floating down. Nothing could stop the inevitable, he thought. I have served my…the creature died, proud that he had become a servant of Lee before he had died.
*
Lee was satisfied with the fight he had witnessed through binoculars. His teammate had died but Cloud had yet another injury. They were now down to four, instead of six. But hey, Tifa had join them, so what's the problem. Tifa could seduce Cloud into letting his guard down and then she could bag Aeris.
One thing that still puzzled Lee was how Cloud's sub had gotten sunk. All of Cloud's friends had made it to the shore but they didn't realize that Cloud was still in the sub. Lee, from the shore, watched Cloud float toward him. The other members of Avalanche were at least four miles down shore. Nothing to worry about.
"Marina," he called. She was at his side at once. "Go out and get Cloud, do not harm him though. Understand?"
She nodded, "Yes sir." And she ran down to the water and dived in, swimming right towards Cloud. Lee smiled. Again, he had victory. Now he had two prisoners. Tifa and Cloud. Aeris would give anything for Cloud, even if Tifa loved him.
*
Nine miles from shore, at the edge of an abyss, a dark shape swam from a cave. It was about sixty meters long and thirty meters wide if you counted its tentacle-span. It was a large creature that had already had its lunch. About sixteen tons of fish did the job. And then it had some extra energy so it banged up a huge fish. It was a large red fish. Very strange.
It didn't care though. It had fun beating it up. One of its five eyes spotted the red fish, lying at the bottom of the sea. It swam towards it and got a strange sense. Something had gotten away from it…
Oh, the creature realized. It's a vongeesh. A vongeesh was something that had one body, and a lot of other bodies inside. And something had escaped from the vongeesh. The creature made a frown-like face…by its standards. Must kill the survivors it thought happily. And pursued the sense.
*
Marina dragged Cloud up from the water, his body limp and cold. He probably had hypothermia but no one really cared. Marina reported to Lee, who gave her a blanket and told her to go rest. She did just that, too. She was sleeping when she heard the shouts. "…coming. It's coming. Look through the binoculars. The legend is coming!"
Marina got up and exited the tent to find a beautiful sunset…and a large…thing blocking the sunset. It was HUGE! About forty five meters to fifty-five meters tall. Marina gasped…the thing was…
"Get ready," Lee had yelled. "It's going to attack us." Marina gasped in horror.
Run Marina, that is your death speeding toward you. She turned and ran back into the tent, getting her staff and equipping herself with Materia. She equipped herself with (everything was Master) Fire, Cure, Sleepel, and some summoning Materia. Knights of Round, Ifrit, and Bahamut ZERO. Then she ran back outside, trying to decide if she should obey Lee…or run like a little girl. I'm not a little girl anymore, she thought. We can destroy it.
Lee was equipped and ready and she went to stand by his side. "What do we do," she asked in a firm voice.
"Its to big to try and outrun," he said without looking her. "Might as well fight it."
"Right," she said. Her face was strong; her thoughts were near panic.
We must run, she thought. No, she scolded herself. Her emotions were covered in fear. She was frozen. We must run. But we can't. Maybe Lee will…maybe Lee will like me if I stand with him. That's it! I will fight by his side and then he will be impressed and want to marry me! The very thought of marrying Lee motivated her.
The creature sped toward them with intensity; in the creature's mind, it was going to be fun. Survivors are always a little hard. After all, the intelligent creature had been around for nearly 2000 years. He was the last; he would give birth just before he would die. It was the way things are. You give birth just before you die, whether or not you are male or female (unless you are killed by vongeesh). Long ago, just before his mother died, she warned his baby mind to stay away from the vongeesh; she also called them humans. His mother had been special; she died 1600 years after he was born.
They usually live for about 4000 years, unless they are killed (which has never happened).
The creature stopped thinking about it and focused on the little beings that were obviously about to fight him. He just laughed and shrugged. Time to die, human.
*
Cloud coughed and looked up. Lee, Gloom, Marina, and their other teammate were lined up in one line about half a mile away, their faces actually showing emotion. Cloud started to get up but a sudden impact on the ground made him stumble and fall back into the soft, damp sand. He looked behind him at…what the hell is that?!
Cloud's face showed fear, surprise and confusion. He got up and started running the opposite direction. As he ran, he looked behind him at the…thing and pulled out his sword.
*
The thing looked at the human running from him. That was the one from the vongeesh. The creature did what it called a smile and thought, I will kill him first and then the others will run with fear. And I will go after them…and kill them all.
It approached the shore and transformed its fins into huge, monstrous webbed feet. He looked at the human running; it had a weapon. A weapon that wouldn't do a thing to it.
The creature took two big steps and on its third step, aimed for the human. The human stopped running as he started to put his foot down. Smart human, he realized that he couldn't-
PAIN! Something was burning his foot, the pain, the pain, the pain. The creature turned and put the bottom of his foot in the water. The creature looked at Cloud in anger/rage. The human would DIE.
Cloud got back up off the ground and kept running with the sword in his hand. Now the thing was pissed and next time, Fire3 Master probably won't stop him. Cloud looked behind him and the creature was starting to come back.
Cloud ran as fast as he could, running all the way to Lee and his team, and past. He turned his head to see…the creature was gone! BBOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!
Cloud bounced off the ground and about thirty feet into the air. Oh, thought Cloud as he looked back in front of him. The monster had jumped past him! Thee monster roared at Cloud. Cloud hit the ground and bounced. He got up and started running toward the creature. Gotta' get to and past him. The creature raised a foot but Cloud jumped past, the heel about two feet behind him as it hit the ground.
Shit, thought Cloud. This is really, really bad. Cloud sheathed his sword as he kept running and got behind the thing and jumped onto its left foot. He started running up the leg of the creature. It brought a tentacle toward him and it whipped at him. He jumped for the tentacle and the tip missed him and he flew right onto part of it was as wide as a car.
The creature paused as it noticed the other four humans running towards him. Oh come on, it thought. These pathetic humans are trying to kill me. It roared in happiness; this was a first.
Cloud climbed up the flesh till he found a part that wasn't the regular green skin. It was reddish/brownish and Cloud realized it was a bruise. Cloud smiled and pulled out his sword, then plunged it into the bruise. Brownish liquid started gushing from the whole that Cloud had cut. Cloud just put the sword back and kept climbing up. He planned on getting on top of the monster's head and getting into the eyes that were the size of Cloud himself.
Hanging on as tight as he could, the tentacle he was on tried to whip him off. It failed and tried again. "Arrrrrgh," Cloud yelled. Got to do it. I can do it, he told himself. He couldn't; another whip and he was flying through the air…flying up toward the head. Another tentacle came down hit him.
As he flew, a very big eight fingered (finned actually) hand caught him. He bounced up and rolled a few feet. "Ugh," Cloud said. He looked up and saw a huge hand coming down and a monster roared. Uh oh, he thought. I'm going to get crushed!
*
The huge hand was going to smash Cloud! Tifa cursed and focused on Master Fire and then unleashed it upon the things hand. The creature roared but that didn't stop it. Lee was casting summons; Ifrit, Bahamut, and Shiva were all flying around the creature and bombarding it with ice, fire and laser/flare.
The creature was nearly twice as tall as Weapon. Marina ran up to the monster's feet and started trying to ice them over. "Come on, work. Freeze his feet to the ground." It wasn't working very fast but it was working. Using Master Ice Materia and it was still taking awhile.
Suddenly, Marina thought she heard…a plane coming?! She looked up and saw Avalanche's Highwind, completely rebuilt from when it was destroyed. Only now it was coming in with cannons and guns blazing at the monster. The thing roared and raised its foot. Marina started to dive to the ground but the foot hit her, completely unaware that it hit Marina. She flew into the other leg and lost consciousness.
Lee was running over to help Marina but… "NOOO," he yelled. The huge foot came down and crushed her, then came up and started heading out back to the sea. The Highwind flew around it, cannons firing like crazy. Lee ran over to Marina and looked at her crushed body. The monster hadn't completely stepped down, just enough to half-crush her body. "No…Marina it wasn't supposed to happen like this…Marina," Lee cried.
"Its okay, Lee," a whisper came from her throat. "Finish the creature…I'll," she stopped as she coughed up blood and died.
Lee held her close, wishing he had never tried to take on the monster. But now, now there is revenge. Now the freak will pay. Lee stood up and yelled at Gloom, "Take her back to camp. Revive her if you can." Gloom hesitated. "MOVE IT!" His eyes widened and he ran and picked up Marina's dead body. Gloom looked at Lee and then started running back to camp.
Lee looked at the retreating monster, the summons flying around it and the Highwind trying to blow its cannons through it. Lee pulled out the replica of Sephiroth's sword, the Masunume Blade. And he charged toward the creature, summoning all his courage and energy around him, he unleashed his limit, the Black Blade. (His limit jumps up and whatever his blade hits, dies.)
Lee jumped up to the creatures head, yes, all the way to the creature's head (fifty meters?!). And he sunk his sword into the beast's forehead and climbed in. The flesh and blood surrounded him and he went in and started cutting everything to pieces. Suddenly, the whole head exploded from a cannon shot and Lee…was blown completely apart.
*
The creature fell to the ground, causing a 2.3 earthquake (on the Richter scale). Its head was blown to bits and many parts of its body, inside and out, was all over the place. Avalanche had victory. But now, the remnants of Lee's team are lined up, facing Avalanche, ready to try and die with honor. And Avalanche, with everyone reunited, was facing the two leftovers. A final showdown…except…where is Tifa?
*
Tifa was crying at the side of Cloud's limp body. Cloud had bailed out of the monster's hand and fell down one hundred stories. He could be revived but Tifa was sad and panicked. Her dear Cloud was dead. All because of Aeris. Tifa slowly got up and started toward the two groups. Aeris would DIE. It's not over yet.