Final Fantasy 7: The Hojo Clone
By Co V Schuler
Part 2: The Second Cetra
Chapter 17 (Continued right after the end of Chapter 16)
Cloud plunged the Apocalypse sword into the huge robot's foot. Cloud felt a sudden jolt of energy and then he flew back, electrocuted. His sword was still stuck in the Proud Clod 2's foot though.
The green mist emerged from Cloud's eyes thicker than ever before, the black, sticky sweat coming from his bruise was now waterfalling down his arm. But he didn't notice or care if he did. He would make Scarlet and Shinra pay for what they had done to him, to Avalanche.
Cloud left his sword in the foot and started summoning monsters; he summoned Titan and Bahamut, Bahamut ZERO and Phoenix, and Ramuh.
Proud Clod 2 would suffer the same fate as the first one: death. Suddenly, Cloud saw movement coming from the left foot and Cloud was kicked. He flew back from the impact, unaware of the pain that immersed him.
Cloud hit the dirt and rolled to his feet. Rage, anger, frustration, and revenge masked his face. He had no thoughts, only green mist and black liquid running down his arm. It isn't blood; something else.
Cloud charged forward at the huge robot while his summons had an air battle with it. A pillar of light shone from space, Bahamut ZERO shooting down flares. Proud Clod 2 showed no sign of stopping, or getting slowed. It shot missiles into the air above the planet. Cloud shrugged and kept running.
He pulled out a dagger and threw it at the foot, hoping it would do some damage. It went in and… nothing happened. Cloud got angry again and ran over to the foot and started to pound on it with his fist. On the first punch he flew back at the second of contact.
About one hundred thirty stories above Cloud, the summons were dodging missiles and firing at the robot. Ramuh using his large staff, trying to short-circuit the robot. Bahamut using the basic, but damaging, flare. Phoenix trying to burn the joints that connected the legs to the torso. About another few thousand miles up, Bahamut ZERO was dodging very advanced technological missiles that somehow didn't blow up in the atmosphere.
Cloud hit the ground; his hair now spiked straight up from all the electrocution. He got to his shaky feet and tried to think of another way to hurt the thing. Nothing left but magic attacks. His rage was masking everything he did. Making him send fire in the wrong direction, casting ice on his own summons…
Cloud was pure anger…and he couldn't fight worth a flip.
*
At Junon Harbor, the temporary Shinra headquarters, Scarlet hit buttons left and right. She was controlling the Proud Clod 2 by remote this time. She had learned with the first Proud Clod that you don't want to be around when a Proud Clod blows up. She also had a long scar to prove it; a scar that she thought ruined her beauty and pride, but actually, somehow, enlightened her.
She looked at screen 3 and saw a large dragon creature firing at her. She was taking hits like crazy but the Proud Clod 2 was so strong that the only summons that were really doing damage were the Bahamut ZERO and Ramuh. She couldn't find Ramuh on any of the screens, and knew that ZERO was in space.
It didn't matter; once Cloud dies, they all do. Through screen 8 she saw Cloud and laughed. He had been shocked, more than once, too. She only shook her head and activated the outside speakers on the Proud Clod 2 and spoke into her little speaker remote.
"I am here Cloud," she said teasingly. "And you can't get me this time! Kya ha ha ha!" She knew the laugh was dumb, but it was a hard habit to break, now that she and Heidegger were in different departments, she didn't have to do it to stay in the job.
"Come and get me Cloud."
Through the screen she saw him get the angriest look and start sending magic like crazy. She laughed and hit a blue button below screen 8. The Proud Clod 2 took a step forward and kicked Cloud away, sending him at least a hundred feet away. She took a few more steps until she could see him through the foot's camera again.
A hill was behind Cloud and she laughed. "Eat dirt, fool." And she kicked him, hard. He flew into the hill, and he made a hole in the hill, like a crater. A few seconds later, she looked in screen 8 and couldn't see how far deep he was. She hit a white button and lights came on.
She was killing Cloud and she hadn't even used the best new feature about Proud Clod 2; the Huge Materia Beam Cannon.
The lights showed Cloud, at least twenty feet deep in dirt. He was trying to move and she said into the speakers, "Better hope the hill will hold my weight," and she stepped onto the hill. Through most of the screens, the moonlight was dimming. The summons were still fighting but she would handle that in a minute.
As the second foot stood on the hill, the hill collapsed and Cloud was buried in dirt. Scarlet laughed and kept walking the Proud Clod 2 toward Kalm. Kalm…the city of the dead, she thought as the Proud Clod 2 progressed.
*
Cloud felt the dirt closing in on him and he cast barrier as fast as he could. It didn't work like he hoped but it did work. Dirt was everywhere. He couldn't see a thing after the hill collapsed. He had very little air before he would suffocate. He had to get out.
The green mist had ceased to come from his eyes and his thoughts were much clearer. I have to survive, he thought.
He tried to dig his way out but that didn't work. Then he had an idea…but it was very dangerous. He hadn't summoned the entire inventory of summons he had with him yet. He had one left…Neo Bahamut.
Neo Bahamut lifts up the ground your on and then blows you away. He puts the ground back but maybe…
Cloud started curing himself as much as he could when suddenly, his barrier gave way and dirt completely surrounded him. Focus, he told himself. Focus on Neo Bahamut, and…the ground started lifting and suddenly Cloud had no ground below him. He fell out of it and hit the dirt hard.
He immediately got up and looked around. He was deep in a crater. The Proud Clod was gone, up on the land in the sky facing Neo Bahamut. He started running to get out of the crater; once the regular 'blow away the enemy and put the land back' thing is over, Neo Bahamut flies around his enemies and keep hitting them with Giga Flare.
Gotta get out of the crater. If I'm out of the crater before he's done, I'm…out. But if I can't.
Cloud was almost there when suddenly, the dirt was back. All around him he couldn't breathe, couldn't live…Cloud moved his hand and felt…air! Almost there! He did make it! Just have to…
He used his hand and pulled himself out of the dirt. He breathed in air and lay down on the ground, resting. He opened his eyes and saw the Proud Clod 2, continuing to walk toward Kalm, the summons still hovering around the robot, still fighting.
Cloud slowly got to his feet. Gotta get my sword back, he thought with a smile. Cloud ran up the hill and reached the top in a minute or two. The Proud Clod 2 hadn't stopped. Kalm was only a mile away; Tifa was only a mile away from getting killed.
Rage returned to him, and the green mist started coming from his eyes again. Cloud ran down the hill to the Clod's left foot and pulled out his sword. He got electrocuted but he didn't notice the pain. He sheathed his sword behind his back, renewed energy filling him. Energy motivated by anger.
Cloud ran past the Proud Clod 2, which had paused to shoot down Neo Bahamut. It did; eight missiles emerging from each finger from its hands. Neo Bahamut couldn't get out of the way and Neo Bahamut fell, defeated. Cloud grimaced.
But that didn't stop him. Cloud started bolting the huge robot. Master bolting all the way back to Kalm, Ramuh continually attacking, ZERO relentlessly firing, Bahamut still unleashing the basic flare and Phoenix burning the joints.
Cloud eyed the left leg's joint to the torso. It was beginning to melt. Phoenix still hadn't given up. Cloud started burning the joint too, and the leg began to get loose.
*
"No," Scarlet whispered. "It can't happen, no, no!" The warning sign from the left leg was on. The left leg was about to blow or fall off or something! Scarlet gasped. The damned summons hadn't stopped; even when Cloud was dead and…the thought that Cloud was still alive hit her.
"Oh," she said simply. Then, "That damn bitch and Cloud, the stupid shit head-," she stopped as all screens showed the Proud Clod 2 falling over. The left leg had been severed. She watched, as the summons and small magic kept attacking the Proud Clod 2. So much work…she shook her head. So much…work.
Scarlet walked over to a panel with glass covering a red button. She punched through the glass and hit the red button…activating the Huge Materia Beam Cannon. She aimed the cannon at the Proud Clod 2's torso, and with much regret, fired.
*
Cloud saw the little tube moving, tilting till the barrel was pointing at the Proud Clod's chest.
"What the hell…," he started to say, but went wide eyed and started running away from the Proud Clod 2. That is the beam cannon, he realized.
Even though he was looking the other way, a huge light filled the night sky and a huge explosion blew behind Cloud, sending him very, very high into the sky…
*
Barret was about half-a-mile from the mountain when he heard the huge explosion. He put down Red XIII, whom he had been holding for the long walk and looked behind him. A huge mushroom cloud filled the night sky, and the shock wave that followed reached Kalm, causing major tilts in the ground, like an earthquake.
The shock wave almost reached him, and he saw a person running toward him. He squinted; the person was carrying someone like he was carrying Red XIII…
"Tifa," he called out.
"Barret! I have Marlene but," she fell to the ground and Barret rushed down to her. Tifa had a hole in her back, about four times the size of a bullet hole. Marlene was…worse. A lot worse.
"I tried to help her," Tifa whispered. Barret nodded. Marlene wasn't dead, but she was bleeding all over and needed serious medical attention.
"Come one Tifa," he said gently. "We gotta get to the Highwind."
She slowly got to feet and asked, "Was that explosion…Cloud?"
Barret nodded, "Had to be. It had to be." Tifa started crying softly. "We gotta get to the Highwind, Tifa. You carry Marlene and I will get Nanaki." She nodded and looked up at the trail and a blank expression came over her face. "Yuffie?"
Barret turned around and saw the thief running down from the mountains. Barret shook his head. Cloud was dead; no way he could've survived that explosion. "Yuffie," he yelled; she was still a ways off. "Go get help from the crew. Get them down here and warn Ms/ Hatch that we have seriously wounded people."
Yuffie didn't argue. "Right," she replied, and turned back around and started running back up the mountains. The Highwind was about six miles away. Quite a hike, Barret thought as he picked Red XIII back up.
And he and Tifa started walking up the mountain, Tifa carrying Marlene and Barret carrying the very heavy Red XIII.
About ten minutes later the pilots of the Highwind came rushing down the path and help Barret and Tifa up to the Highwind.