1 The Planet's Chosen
2 Chapter Three
3
Why did I believe Sephiroth? Something pushed me to my acceptance, but I think I had a part in accepting it, also. Is there something that he actually needs our help with? Cloud pondered to himself over a drink at the bar in the hotel. Sephiroth and Arieth were chatting lightly about their lives and Tifa was taking out her confusion and a bit of rage on an arm wrestling machine in the corner. Cloud sighed as he stirred the ice in his drink. Oh well, I'm sure the answers will present themselves just like they did in my last adventure.
Sephiroth glanced over at the pondering Cloud, "Hey Arieth, What's wrong with Cloud? He's been moping around ever since we returned to the hotel."
Arieth shrugged as she replied nonchalantly, "Oh, he's just thinking. The last time I saw him like that, he was looking at the bill from my latest shopping spree"
The two looked at each other, and then burst out laughing. Sephiroth was still a bit worried about Cloud, the last time he had seen Cloud like that, he was forcing him to stab the original Arieth through the back (remember, he wasn't awake when Cloud gave him the Black Materia). He sipped at his drink, wishing he was older so he could get some booze into his system, but he shrugged it off and continued light conversation with Arieth.
"So, uh… do you have any pets?" He asked sheepishly. For some reason, he had felt very livid around the girl.
"Yeah," she replied with a smile, "I have a Chocobo named Shiva. She's a real sweetheart."
"A Chocobo? What color is it?"
"Oh she's a gol…" She was cut off by a crash near the corner of the bar. The glass window by the wrestling machine had been shattered and three SOLDIER were standing before a ready-to-fight Tifa. The SOLDIER were unarmed and stood slouched over and almost limp.
"What the hell?" Sephiroth murmured before drawing his sword and rushing to fight, along with Cloud. Arieth was staring strangely at the SOLDIER, it seemed to her that there was an odd aura emanating from them in the form of a cloud that churned and became smoky skulls for a brief instant before once again becoming part of the cloud.
"Arieth, come on! What are you waiting for?" Her father called, knowing a fight with SOLDIER would be good for her training. Arieth blinked once, and the cloud above the strange men disappeared.
As she joined them, the SOLDIER, who had been standing there like limb dolls, began to advance.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" Cloud demanded from the odd SOLDIER
"WE WANT TO KILL YOU, CLOUD STRIFE!" The lead man of the three said, he barely whispered it, but it felt like a train whistle next to the ears of the group, "ALONG WITH ALL THOSE WITH YOU!"
"I doubt that," Cloud stated as all four took up combat positions. The SOLDIER jumped upon them, only to be beaten back quickly by the amazingly flexible soldiers. The others tried their luck, except for Sephiroth, who carefully watched the fight.
Tifa noticed him not fighting like the rest of them, and instantly got suspicious. "These are your lackeys, aren't they? That's why you're not fighting them!"
Tifa was about to lunge at Sephiroth, since she couldn't hit the SOLDIER, when Sephiroth dashed at the freakish men and stabbed the lead one through the stomach. He quickly pulled the blade out, tearing a large chunk of flesh out of its side. As he jumped back, the SOLDIER's side re-grew and looked completely normal, besides the large rip in the clothing.
"Just as I thought, They're Numbers." Sephiroth mumbled as he carefully watched the re-growth of the creature's side.
"Numbers?" Tifa questioned him, still wary, but facing the SOLDIERS.
"The clones of myself that earned numbers." Sephiroth responded, "Ok people, listen, the only way to destroy these things is to…"
Sephiroth was interrupted by the in unison snickering of the three clones. The lead being was the first to start talking, "YOU THINK THAT WE ARE SIMPLY THE CLONES OF ONE AS WEAK AS YOU, SEPHIROTH? WE ARE MUCH MORE, WE ARE THE TRUE CHILDREN OF JENOVA! AND NOW, YOU SHALL TASTE OUR TRUE POWER!"
With that, the three SOLDIER fell to the ground and began twitching as if in a coma. Soon, a thick, pink jelly began emitting from them and completely coated their bodies. When they stood up and shook the slime off of themselves, they had completely changed.
"Oh my god…" Aerith stammered as she looked in horror at the three monsters.
"I wonder what it is that has brought me here." Vincent remarked as he cracked a smile, thinking about all that had happened since he had been to the Golden Saucer last. Since defeating Sephiroth, he had gone off by himself to regain the meaning of life. After all his years of wandering, he had finally come to grips with his death, the death of Lucrecia, and his transformation from a Turk to the warrior he had become. Along with understanding, his original personality had returned to him. He is no longer a gaunt and dark person. Rather, he is easy to make smile and is not a stranger to jokes.
Adjusting his metal arm, he continued to walk through the valley towards North Corel, easily taking out and monsters that he encountered along the way.
The three creatures advanced on the party. They walked upright and had tattered remains of clothing on their bodies, but and further resemblance to humans was impossible. Their arms had become long, thin appendages, tipped off by large claws, built for ripping and tearing. Sprouting from their sickly gray torsos were large, white tentacles that closely resembled gigantic maggots. Their mouths had become gaping holes, filled with jagged teeth at random intervals.
"These weren't created by any god!" Sephiroth yelled over his shoulder as he lunged at the monsters and took off the lead's head. "Everyone! Go for the heads!"
The body of the first beast simply fell to the floor, turned into a puddle of goo, the slid to the feet of the two other monsters, making them larger.
"Oh, crap," Cloud stated as he, Tifa, Cait-Sith and Aerith jumped into the fray.
The battle quickly heated up and was quickly turning quite gory. Chunks of the soldier-monsters were flying in all directions as they were cut or punched off, and blood from our heroes was dotting the floor as the claws and tentacles of the beasts lashed out in all directions. The beasts fought with all the rage of a pride of cornered lions, and the battle was not faring well for the good guys, each time a limb was severed, it would simply turn to goop, and return to it's owner and form again.
Cloud was able to sever one of the heads of one of the creatures, giving the party a small break as the two fused. "What now, Sephiroth? I say we take of the last head and finish this"
"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that won't work"
"Why not?" Aerith replied to Sephiroth's grim response.
"Because the only way to kill them is to stab them right through the…HEART!" to accent his last word, Sephiroth dashed forward and drove his sword deep into the beasts chest.
"YOU FELL RIGHT INTO IT, O, GREAT SEPHIROTH!!" the beast commented as Sephiroth tried to remove his sword from the creatures chest, to no avail. "I WILL TAKE YOUR SWORD NOW, AND YOUR LIFE LATER"
With that, the SOLDIER jumped through the roof of the bar and disappeared. Leaving Sephiroth in a dumb silence, on his knees and looking at his hands with eyes wide in disbelief.
"Sep…Sephiroth? Are you alright?" Arieth asked, with no response.
"Come on, Honey, we'll come back for him. We have to find that monster before it causes any more damage." Tifa told her daughter as she and Cloud walked off the door.
"A…alright." She responded. Placing a hand on Sephiroth's shoulder, she whispered, "We'll be back soon"
Sephiroth didn't respond.
Vincent was walking through the slums of North Corel when a dark shadow flitted across his vision. Drawing his rifle, he began to search the shadows for the odd shape. After a bit of searching, he shrugged and continued walking, keeping his gun out.
When he reached the deck, the lift was just stopping. He waited outside the door after flashing the advanced ticket he had bought at the last town. When the door opened, he was bowled over by Aerith and Cloud, still on their search for the monster that had taken Sephiroth's sword.
"What the hell!?!" he cried out as Cloud's metal shoulder pad knocked hard into his chest, pushing the air out of his body and laying him flat.
"Vincent?" Cloud blurted out as he saw the dark man he had knocked down, "What are you doing here?"
"I have no know idea," Vincent spurted out between coughs and gasps for air, "I was drawn here, for some reason"
Cloud and Aerith helped Vincent onto his feet. Hw quickly brushed himself off and exchanged friendlier greetings with the two.
"You have grown quite a bit since I last saw you Aerith. You have become quite an attractive young lady," He stated, much to the embarrassment and blushing of Aerith.
"Yes she has," Cloud retorted, "And you have changed so… not at all…"
"Well, I am immortal, so it's a bit hard for me to age, ya' know" he quipped, nodding his head deeply after the last two words, "Now tell me, what were you two in such a hurry for? You almost killed me in your stampede."
"Oh my god, the sword!" Aerith cried, "We forgot about it! Dad! We have to find that monster and get Sephiroth's sword back to him"
"Right" Cloud answered as he and Aerith bolted off the platform and dashed into the town.
"I'll come too," Vincent called after the and quickly caught up, only to come to a screeching halt, "Wait … Sephiroth?"
2 Chapter Three
3
Why did I believe Sephiroth? Something pushed me to my acceptance, but I think I had a part in accepting it, also. Is there something that he actually needs our help with? Cloud pondered to himself over a drink at the bar in the hotel. Sephiroth and Arieth were chatting lightly about their lives and Tifa was taking out her confusion and a bit of rage on an arm wrestling machine in the corner. Cloud sighed as he stirred the ice in his drink. Oh well, I'm sure the answers will present themselves just like they did in my last adventure.
Sephiroth glanced over at the pondering Cloud, "Hey Arieth, What's wrong with Cloud? He's been moping around ever since we returned to the hotel."
Arieth shrugged as she replied nonchalantly, "Oh, he's just thinking. The last time I saw him like that, he was looking at the bill from my latest shopping spree"
The two looked at each other, and then burst out laughing. Sephiroth was still a bit worried about Cloud, the last time he had seen Cloud like that, he was forcing him to stab the original Arieth through the back (remember, he wasn't awake when Cloud gave him the Black Materia). He sipped at his drink, wishing he was older so he could get some booze into his system, but he shrugged it off and continued light conversation with Arieth.
"So, uh… do you have any pets?" He asked sheepishly. For some reason, he had felt very livid around the girl.
"Yeah," she replied with a smile, "I have a Chocobo named Shiva. She's a real sweetheart."
"A Chocobo? What color is it?"
"Oh she's a gol…" She was cut off by a crash near the corner of the bar. The glass window by the wrestling machine had been shattered and three SOLDIER were standing before a ready-to-fight Tifa. The SOLDIER were unarmed and stood slouched over and almost limp.
"What the hell?" Sephiroth murmured before drawing his sword and rushing to fight, along with Cloud. Arieth was staring strangely at the SOLDIER, it seemed to her that there was an odd aura emanating from them in the form of a cloud that churned and became smoky skulls for a brief instant before once again becoming part of the cloud.
"Arieth, come on! What are you waiting for?" Her father called, knowing a fight with SOLDIER would be good for her training. Arieth blinked once, and the cloud above the strange men disappeared.
As she joined them, the SOLDIER, who had been standing there like limb dolls, began to advance.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" Cloud demanded from the odd SOLDIER
"WE WANT TO KILL YOU, CLOUD STRIFE!" The lead man of the three said, he barely whispered it, but it felt like a train whistle next to the ears of the group, "ALONG WITH ALL THOSE WITH YOU!"
"I doubt that," Cloud stated as all four took up combat positions. The SOLDIER jumped upon them, only to be beaten back quickly by the amazingly flexible soldiers. The others tried their luck, except for Sephiroth, who carefully watched the fight.
Tifa noticed him not fighting like the rest of them, and instantly got suspicious. "These are your lackeys, aren't they? That's why you're not fighting them!"
Tifa was about to lunge at Sephiroth, since she couldn't hit the SOLDIER, when Sephiroth dashed at the freakish men and stabbed the lead one through the stomach. He quickly pulled the blade out, tearing a large chunk of flesh out of its side. As he jumped back, the SOLDIER's side re-grew and looked completely normal, besides the large rip in the clothing.
"Just as I thought, They're Numbers." Sephiroth mumbled as he carefully watched the re-growth of the creature's side.
"Numbers?" Tifa questioned him, still wary, but facing the SOLDIERS.
"The clones of myself that earned numbers." Sephiroth responded, "Ok people, listen, the only way to destroy these things is to…"
Sephiroth was interrupted by the in unison snickering of the three clones. The lead being was the first to start talking, "YOU THINK THAT WE ARE SIMPLY THE CLONES OF ONE AS WEAK AS YOU, SEPHIROTH? WE ARE MUCH MORE, WE ARE THE TRUE CHILDREN OF JENOVA! AND NOW, YOU SHALL TASTE OUR TRUE POWER!"
With that, the three SOLDIER fell to the ground and began twitching as if in a coma. Soon, a thick, pink jelly began emitting from them and completely coated their bodies. When they stood up and shook the slime off of themselves, they had completely changed.
"Oh my god…" Aerith stammered as she looked in horror at the three monsters.
"I wonder what it is that has brought me here." Vincent remarked as he cracked a smile, thinking about all that had happened since he had been to the Golden Saucer last. Since defeating Sephiroth, he had gone off by himself to regain the meaning of life. After all his years of wandering, he had finally come to grips with his death, the death of Lucrecia, and his transformation from a Turk to the warrior he had become. Along with understanding, his original personality had returned to him. He is no longer a gaunt and dark person. Rather, he is easy to make smile and is not a stranger to jokes.
Adjusting his metal arm, he continued to walk through the valley towards North Corel, easily taking out and monsters that he encountered along the way.
The three creatures advanced on the party. They walked upright and had tattered remains of clothing on their bodies, but and further resemblance to humans was impossible. Their arms had become long, thin appendages, tipped off by large claws, built for ripping and tearing. Sprouting from their sickly gray torsos were large, white tentacles that closely resembled gigantic maggots. Their mouths had become gaping holes, filled with jagged teeth at random intervals.
"These weren't created by any god!" Sephiroth yelled over his shoulder as he lunged at the monsters and took off the lead's head. "Everyone! Go for the heads!"
The body of the first beast simply fell to the floor, turned into a puddle of goo, the slid to the feet of the two other monsters, making them larger.
"Oh, crap," Cloud stated as he, Tifa, Cait-Sith and Aerith jumped into the fray.
The battle quickly heated up and was quickly turning quite gory. Chunks of the soldier-monsters were flying in all directions as they were cut or punched off, and blood from our heroes was dotting the floor as the claws and tentacles of the beasts lashed out in all directions. The beasts fought with all the rage of a pride of cornered lions, and the battle was not faring well for the good guys, each time a limb was severed, it would simply turn to goop, and return to it's owner and form again.
Cloud was able to sever one of the heads of one of the creatures, giving the party a small break as the two fused. "What now, Sephiroth? I say we take of the last head and finish this"
"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that won't work"
"Why not?" Aerith replied to Sephiroth's grim response.
"Because the only way to kill them is to stab them right through the…HEART!" to accent his last word, Sephiroth dashed forward and drove his sword deep into the beasts chest.
"YOU FELL RIGHT INTO IT, O, GREAT SEPHIROTH!!" the beast commented as Sephiroth tried to remove his sword from the creatures chest, to no avail. "I WILL TAKE YOUR SWORD NOW, AND YOUR LIFE LATER"
With that, the SOLDIER jumped through the roof of the bar and disappeared. Leaving Sephiroth in a dumb silence, on his knees and looking at his hands with eyes wide in disbelief.
"Sep…Sephiroth? Are you alright?" Arieth asked, with no response.
"Come on, Honey, we'll come back for him. We have to find that monster before it causes any more damage." Tifa told her daughter as she and Cloud walked off the door.
"A…alright." She responded. Placing a hand on Sephiroth's shoulder, she whispered, "We'll be back soon"
Sephiroth didn't respond.
Vincent was walking through the slums of North Corel when a dark shadow flitted across his vision. Drawing his rifle, he began to search the shadows for the odd shape. After a bit of searching, he shrugged and continued walking, keeping his gun out.
When he reached the deck, the lift was just stopping. He waited outside the door after flashing the advanced ticket he had bought at the last town. When the door opened, he was bowled over by Aerith and Cloud, still on their search for the monster that had taken Sephiroth's sword.
"What the hell!?!" he cried out as Cloud's metal shoulder pad knocked hard into his chest, pushing the air out of his body and laying him flat.
"Vincent?" Cloud blurted out as he saw the dark man he had knocked down, "What are you doing here?"
"I have no know idea," Vincent spurted out between coughs and gasps for air, "I was drawn here, for some reason"
Cloud and Aerith helped Vincent onto his feet. Hw quickly brushed himself off and exchanged friendlier greetings with the two.
"You have grown quite a bit since I last saw you Aerith. You have become quite an attractive young lady," He stated, much to the embarrassment and blushing of Aerith.
"Yes she has," Cloud retorted, "And you have changed so… not at all…"
"Well, I am immortal, so it's a bit hard for me to age, ya' know" he quipped, nodding his head deeply after the last two words, "Now tell me, what were you two in such a hurry for? You almost killed me in your stampede."
"Oh my god, the sword!" Aerith cried, "We forgot about it! Dad! We have to find that monster and get Sephiroth's sword back to him"
"Right" Cloud answered as he and Aerith bolted off the platform and dashed into the town.
"I'll come too," Vincent called after the and quickly caught up, only to come to a screeching halt, "Wait … Sephiroth?"