Heartstrings
Vincent Unleashed
by TacomaSquall
Part
Twenty-Three:
As the Highwind
neared the summit of Mount Nibel, Cloud walked among his comrades. As he passed by each one, he handed them two
items.
The first was a
ShinRa Pharmaceuticals product, a methamphetamine derivative that was standard
issue for ShinRa shock troops. The
Hyper allowed the shock troops to reach Limits more easily, making the ShinRa
shock squads a force to be feared. It
was a Hyper-induced frenzy that figured prominently in the final battle of the
Wutai War.
The second item was a
small vial of translucent liquid. The
liquid contained within the vial was bubbling, like a hyperactive bottle-full
of Rufus Cola. When the imbiber drank
the Speed Drink, his reaction time and quickness doubled.
After he had handed
off the last of the items, he turned back to his companions. "I want you to take the Hyper and wash it
down with the Speed Drink, before you jump off the airship. We don't know how quickly we will be in a
fight, and I want to make sure that we are ready."
He turned to
Yuffie. "Are you ready with
Typoon?" Yuffie nodded. "Good." He turned back to the others. "Typoon will carry us down to Lord Chaos. He is willing to take the risk that Chaos will end his existence,
if we promise to defeat Vincent's former Limit."
"Each of you, keep
your hand on your ripcord. If Typoon is
noticed, he will let go and try to draw Chaos' attention away from us. At that point, it will be necessary for us to
regulate our descent." He smiled at his
friends. "This will be a cakewalk,
compared to the drop on Midgar."
Cloud continued. "We know that Chaos is going to try and
break the Barrier. What effect that
will have on the Planet is uncertain, but we do know that he believes it will
grant him enough power to seize control of the entire world. According to Grennek, the Barrier is tied
into the power of the Summon Materia. This means that breaking the Barrier could either free or destroy the
Mako-twisted. We can't let that happen,
while the threat of reinvasion from Nessos exists."
"That means that we
have to hit Chaos hard and fast. I want
to try and clear an opportunity for Grennek to use the Counter Null. Once he's used it, we hit Chaos with every
Summon we can throw at him. If you
don't have Summons, use support magic and items to keep the rest of us going."
Cloud looked at his
companions. "I want you to know that I
am proud to have you as my friends and allies. If we just keep fighting, we cannot help but succeed!"
One by one, AVALANCHE
used their items and leapt from the Highwind. They were all gathered up by Typoon. The weird Mako-twisted creature from the Ancient Forest bore
them speedily downwards.
* * * * * *
Chaos stood before
the Keystone. The amethyst-hued Materia
was an irregular shard of crystal that thrust out of the rock underneath the
former Mako reactor. He grinned. At last…
He placed one hand
upon the crystal and called upon some of the elemental attacks in his
arsenal. First, he used the Diamond
Dust and then Hellfire. Following after
that, he unleashed the might of the Judgment Bolt, and then called upon the
power of the Tidal Wave. Finally, he
unleashed the Mega Flare. In turn, he
focused all of the puissant energies brought into existence from each attack
upon the crystal.
The crystal shrunk
slightly when frozen, and then rapidly expanded under the brunt of the
subsequent heating attack. Microfissures formed, and the crystalline lattice was weakened. The electricity of the Judgment Bolt changed
the charge of the molecules that formed the crystal – reducing its
cohesiveness. Water from the Tidal Wave
rushed into the fissures and widened them imperceptibly. The Mega Flare intensified the damage done
to the Keystone, making the cracks visible to the naked eye.
Chaos brought the
Chaos Saber down in an overhand chop that would have made Odin proud. The sword met the weakened crystal in a
brief battle for which would give way first. In the end, hell-forged steel won out over crystallized Mako.
The Keystone exploded,
hurling shards skyward, as AVALANCHE descended into the Nibel reactor. Amethyst and lavender bolts of energy arced
away from the ruined site, streaking towards the Barrier.
* * * * * *
In seconds, the bolts
of energy traveled the distance that separated Mount Nibel from the Barrier,
striking it from north and south in rapid succession. As each bolt stuck, it clung, until the energy contained within
was discharged. Each discharge was the
equivalent of the Tera Flare in power.
With each strike, the
Barrier glowed more and more fiercely. It went through the visible spectrum, flaring into brilliance, until it
glowed in a blinding ultraviolet that extended well past the range of normal
vision. Scores of seabirds were cooked
on the spot by the hellish radiation pouring forth from the Barrier.
Finally the Barrier
could not contain the energies it held. It exploded, in a concussion loud enough to be heard from Icicle Village
in the North to ruined Mideel in the south.
* * * * * *
Cloud rolled as his
body struck the cavern floor. In all of
his trips into Mount Nibel and the Mako reactor, he had never seen a cavern
like this one. The walls and ceiling of
the cavern were bleached a brilliant violet hue, excluding where Lord Chaos had
blasted through the ceiling – the aperture through which AVALANCHE had
descended.
He looked around him
and saw that his companions had all landed safely. Typoon had been with us until that massive Materia
exploded. I hope that Typoon is okay…
Cloud shook his head
to clear the extraneous worries from his mind. There was no time to worry about the fate of a single Mako-twisted
one. Chaos had noticed them.
"Welcome, AVALANCHE,"
Chaos boomed. His demonic visage was
split by a wide smile. Lord Chaos'
smile faltered and slowly slipped from his face, however. Cloud turned and gaped in amazement.
Forms began to
materialize inside of the cavern. Chillingly beautiful Shiva and hot-tempered Ifrit. The powerful Titan, flanked by the Galian
and the Hellmasker. Righteous Ramuh,
standing upon the mechanical shoulders of the Holy Wanzer, Alexander. Kjata, trumpeting a cry of relief after
millennia of imprisonment. Hades and
his bubbling black cauldron. More and
more appeared in the huge cavern, as Cloud and his companions came to a stunned
realization. The Mako-twisted had been
freed!
Behind and above the
massed might of the Mako-twisted, four massive forms appeared, filling the sky
above the cavern. The gigantic sentient
fortress known simply as Atma, hulked in the sky, training its turrets upon
Lord Chaos, as the triple avatars of Lord Bahamut screamed their rage to the
skies.
At the forefront of
the Mako-twisted army, Lord Odin dismounted from Sleipnir. He cracked his knuckles and gazed at Lord
Chaos in naked hatred. His voice boomed
at the last of Vincent's avatars, "Chaos! You will pay for your crimes!"
Chaos laughed. "Fool! Bow before your master!"
Odin drew the Zantetsuken. "We will not concede your suzerainty. Like these humans, we will oppose you."
Chaos snarled, "Very
well. You can die alongside the humans
you love so much!" The Mako-twisted
lord unleashed the force of his magic, scattering human, Mako-twisted, Frogman,
and Kyrrawlen alike.
As the members of
AVALANCHE and the many Mako-twisted shrugged off the effects of Chaos' spell,
behind Lord Chaos, Typoon returned to view. The massive elemental tried to suck Chaos into its massive jaws. Hurricane winds blasted into the treacherous
master of Magic.
Chaos was staggered
by the attack. He started to slide
backwards towards the gigantic elemental. Inch by tortuous inch, Chaos slid, while his opponents recovered from
his attack. Seeing his inability to
shrug off Typoon's pull, Chaos whirled and leapt at the Mako-twisted
being. As he flew towards Typoon, Chaos
whipped out the Chaos Saber.
Typoon was unable to
react in time, as Chaos flew point-first towards the creature's gullet. The Chaos Saber pierced flesh, sucked in by
Typoon's own breath. Chaos drove the blade
deeper into the Mako-twisted thing's flesh. Coursing bolts of midnight-black energy leapt from Chaos into the enemy
that sought to devour him.
The black energy
swept through Typoon, covering it in a crackling aura of night. When the aura had covered Typoon's entire
form, Typoon felt the disintegrative forces it commanded being unleashed upon
itself. Cell by cell, Typoon's flesh
disintegrated.
Typoon's sacrifice
was not in vain, however, as a wave of attackers swarmed upon Chaos. Wave after wave of elemental attack struck,
punctuated by physical blows from the members of AVALANCHE as each of them
reached low-level Limit Breaks. Maiji
summoned a two-dimensional reflection of Lord Chaos to join the fray, covering
the slow and steady approach of Grennek.
Chaos stood equal to
the task of repulsing the hordes that threatened to overwhelm him. For each attack that struck, Chaos launched
a counter. Ramuh fell, his staff
shattered, and eldritch energies coruscating through his being. A sweep from the Chaos Saber decapitated the
Seeker, and its body collapsed into the void it contained within. Hades' Black Cauldron was shattered, and the
Lord of the Underworld was laid on top of the enchanted remains. Barret's gun-arm was severed, spitting fire
into his allies briefly before dying out. Nanaki fell, blasted into unconsciousness by the errant rounds from the
Missing Score. Maiji's duplicate was
cleft in two by a single powerful chop from the Chaos Saber, and the resulting
backlash felled the raven-haired artist.
Grennek finally
reached Chaos' side. The elderly
Sahugin raised the Wizard Bracelet containing the Counter Null over his head,
as he activated the golden Materia.
Chaos felt his power
diminished. At that moment, Cloud
struck with his Deathblow attack, leaching energy and vitality from his
enemy. To Chaos' surprise, he was no
longer capable of counterattacking each enemy as they struck. In fury, he snaked a hand forth and grabbed
Grennek. Chaos lifted the elder high,
and then threw him across the cavern. When the Sahugin struck the far wall, his shell shattered, and his bones
were crushed by the impact. Dead
instantly, Grennek's last thought was a hope that the Frogmen be judged worthy
to stand alongside mankind in the aftermath of this battle.
Cait Sith cried
aloud, "No more!" The robotic moogle
charged Chaos, bringing him to the cavern floor with a bone-jarring
tackle. Looking upwards, Cait Sith
shouted to Atma, the Ki-Rin, and Bahamut's avatars. "Hit him now! I will hold
him as long as I can!"
The crackling
energies of the Tera Flare, Mega Flare, and Giga Flare mingled with the beams
of energy that ravened forth from Atma's cannons. When the combined beam of energy struck, the concussion was
strong enough to knock back the members of AVALANCHE who were nearby. Under the bombardment of such hellish
energies, Cait Sith's form glowed incandescent, as did Lord Chaos'.
Feedback from the
damage being dealt to Cait Sith surged back through the control instrumentation
worn by Reeve. It was too much to bear,
and the President's heart suffered a massive attack while his brain insisted
that every cell of his being was transforming to plasma. By the time his heart stopped, Reeve was
already dead.
When the beams winked
out of existence, there was nothing left of the moogle or Lord Chaos.
* * * * * *
Odin and Cloud stood
together. The other Mako-twisted had
left, heading to the mountain's summit, where they would survey the world that
they had returned to. The members of AVALANCHE
were gathering their wounded, and trying to deal with the enormity of what had
happened.
"What lies beyond the
Barrier, Odin?" Cloud felt himself
consumed with curiosity to know why Chaos had insisted on breaking the Barrier.
"The rest of the
world."
"What?" Cloud couldn't believe what he had just
heard. "The rest of the world?"
"When the Cetra
sealed us away, they found it necessary to confine us in a small portion of the
world, to preserve the remainder. If
any of us escaped, the Cetra knew we would be powerful enough to be a grave
risk. In order to ensure we would
remain under control, they focused the power of the Lifestream into a small
portion of the world. This gave them
the magical resources to effectively oppose us."
"So they crafted the
Barrier to provide power to oppose the Mako-twisted?"
"In part. They knew they had failed to capture Lord
Chaos. So long as the Lifestream was
concentrated, one of the Cetra could use its power when Chaos made his eventual
play for power."
Cloud nodded. "But they did not count on the arrival of Jenova."
"And Chaos was
patient." Odin's voice was sad. "Once, he was one of our greatest, before he
betrayed us."
"And now, he is gone,
leaving us a new world to explore." Cloud smiled.
Odin nodded
briefly. He placed his fingers to his
mouth and whistled. As Sleipnir swooped
downwards to his side, the Mako-twisted lord looked at Cloud. "We still have business, Cloud Strife. You are one of us and, sooner or later, you
will need to join us."
Cloud blurted, "I'm
one of you?"
The Mako-twisted Lord
swung up into the saddle of his eight-legged steed. "That is a tale for another day, brother. Farewell, until the time comes." The flying steed took off, bearing Odin to
the others atop Mount Nibel.
Cloud watched the
Mako-twisted depart, and sighed. It was
time to pick up the pieces.