Chapter 8 - Jenova - Infinity
"You dare oppose me?" Jenova looked at Avalanche and Sephiroth "You're pathetic Sephiroth. You and your friends don't stand a chance against me."
"Shut up!!!!" Sephiroth roared flying at Jenova in fury "You manipulated me, you almost destroyed this world through me… you'll pay for all the evil you've caused!"
Cloud tried to prevent Sephiroth from attacking, but he agreed with what Sephiroth said. He also attacked, trying to keep Jenovas' attention divided between the two of them. Sephiroth noticed Cloud helping him and accepted the help. He had learnt that Cloud was almost, if not better than him in battle.
" Heavens Judgement!" Aeris voice shattered the noise of battle as she attacked with her Limit, trying to help both Cloud and Sephiroth, who were getting pounded by Jenova.
" Ha, Ha, Ha. It'll take more than that to harm me" Jenova laughed at the efforts against her as she held the Black Materia, creating a shield of darkness around her.
Reeve leapt out of the way top avoid being caught in the energy that had erupted from the Materia. He tried to avoid it but seeing Jenova attack Tifa made him give way to his anger " Megablast!" he called as he raised his gun. A blast of fiery red energy erupted from the gun, hitting the shield. Tifa noticed that the blast managed to penetrate the shield and hurt Jenova slightly.
Tifa, who had moved out of Reeves way when she knew he was going to unleash his limit, returned to the fight and carried on hitting Jenova with her fists, but after a few hits, she saw that she was not causing any damage and moved back. She thought for a second then called out "Giga flare" summoning the monster known as Bahamut Zero, to attack with its' energy ray.
"CHAOS" Vincent roared as he turned into the Chaos beast. He repeatedly attacked with his chaos sabre, which Jenova flinched from every time he used it against the barrier, as the barrier weakened every time it hit.
"All Creation" Yuffie yelled using her ultimate limit in the hope of damaging Jenova as she saw the barrier weaken. She hoped that her attack would penetrate the barrier, but it didn't. Jenova laughed and struck out at Barret, who had been using support spells and trying to dispel the barrier without success.
"This isn't working" Red commented to no-one in particular, just as Barret collided with him.
"Stop being such a #&^$* optimist" Cid replied as he took out one of his green materia orbs "Cure 3" he called out as he cast the healing spell on both Red and Barret.
Sephiroth and Cloud fell back, they couldn't get past the barrier and Only Vincent seemed to be weakening it, and then only slightly as Jenova kept renewing it. "We have to destroy the Black Materia then Jenova will be destroyed along with it" Sephiroth said.
"How the hell are we gonna do that?" Barret wanted to know as he picked himself up "We can't get anywhere %^%$&% near her!"
"Beats me" Cloud replied as he healed himself and Sephiroth. So then they could return to the fight.
"Give up, and I will make your deaths quick and painless" Jenova told them "You'll never destroy me."
"GO to Hell" Yuffie shouted back as everyone moved to resume the fight.
After escaping from the battle with Marlene, the Turks made sure that the girl was inside the airship, out of the way of danger. They had decided to wait at the bottom of the ladder so then they could re-enter the battle if they were needed to, but the creatures that inhabited the Crater didn't give them an easy time of the wait. As the Turks relaxed against the side of the Highwind, five small creatures attacked them.
"Why do creatures always want to attack us?" Reno complained, charging up his nightstick. "Ok, lets wipe the floor with them"
"TURK light" Rude yelled slamming into one of the creatures, which had come too close to him.
"Fire 3" Elena shouted casting her most powerful spell. The fire spell hit all five of the creatures and killed the one that Rude had just hit.
"Two down three to go!" Reno commented killing a second creature by electrocuting it with his nightstick. "These things are wimps"
Elena sniggered and was about to attack one of the creatures, when one she hadn't noticed bit her arm. She felt the poison burn it's way through the wound and she knew that if it weren't cured soon, she would be in trouble. "Damn, Reno, Rude watch out, their bite is poisonous" she called to her friends
"Rude do you have Heal or a remedy?" Reno asked killing the creature that had just bitten Elena, knowing that Elena didn't carry healing materia that often.
"No!" Rude said as he dodged a magic attack by one of the creatures.
On the Highwinds deck, Marlene had been watching the battle below, despite what the Turks had told her. When she saw Elena get hurt and heard Reno calling for the heal materia, she ran back into the Highwind to get the materia that was needed. Cid had bought some low level materia before they had left Cosmo Canyon, and he had stored it in the airship for emergencies. When she returned to the deck, she could see that Reno and Rude had moved to cover Elena, and were defending her against the two creatures. She raised the materia and called out "Poisona!" the only spell that the materia could do at this low growth level. The healing spell removed the poison from Elena in seconds.
"Marlene, get back inside" Reno called up to the girl as he caught the Heal materia that she had thrown to him. Elena got to her feet, slightly unsteady as Rude used curing spells on her to restore her strength. "That's it!" she said as she threw a grenade between the monsters, which killed them both.
"Now what?" Rude asked, wondering if they should go to help Avalanche.
"We wait!" Reno replied, knowing that they had been asked to stay here, until it was clear that Avalanche had either succeeded or failed.
Marlene wandered round the Highwind for a few minutes, wondering what she could do. Even though she was only four, she was highly intelligent, and knew that her dad and his friends were in trouble. She also knew that the Turks wouldn't go to help unless they had to, they were protecting her and the airship. As she passed the room Angel was in, she knew what she could do, she'd try to help the woman who was like Sephiroth. She sat down next to Angel and talked to hers, even though she didn't know if Angel would hear.
"I bet you would help my daddy if you were awake" Angel heard someone say through the fog of deep sleep. She had worn herself out when she had obliterated Meteor and she knew that the others wouldn't have waited until she had woken up to go fight Jenova. As she opened her eyes she could see the blurry image of a young girl and as her eyesight cleared she could see Marlene clearly. The girls words rang through her mind. "You're Barret's daughter??" Angel asked as she got up.
"Yes" Marlene replied.
"What's happening?"
"Daddy went to fight that creature with Uncle Cloud and Aunt Tifa" Marlene said, "The Turks are outside, looking after me."
"I've got to help them" Angel said as she picked up her sword. "You're right to stay here Marlene, your dad will be back soon, don't worry." She smiled at the child and bolted out of the room and headed towards the Highwinds deck. Halfway there, she could hear a battle taking place outside the airship. She could hear the Turks calling our spells and she could hear their curses as the spells either didn't work or had the opposite effect. As she got to the rail of the deck, she could see what the Turks were fighting. It was a large dragon, and from what she could see, the Turks weren't having much effect on it.
"How the hell are we supposed to kill that?" Reno asked as he used his nightstick on the creature. " It took all of us last time to kill one"
Angel could see that they were seriously outmatched and she knew she had to do something otherwise the Turks would be killed.
" Ultimate end" she shouted after a seconds thought. She used the most powerful summon she had learnt without realising that it was the same one that Cloud had used to kill the last one.
"What the!" Elena looked round as Angel cast the spell, unable to believe that someone else had entered the fight.
Once the dragon was dead Angel flew down to the ground "We must go to help the others, if we don't hurry then we'll fail." She told them as she ran towards where she could sense Jenova's power. The Turks looked at each other before following her at a run.
"Omnislash!" Cloud yelled as he lost his temper with the barrier that Jenova kept creating. The ultimate limit dissipated the barrier.
"Supernova!" Sephiroth cast his most powerful summon, that was more of a magical attack, at the same time as Cloud began attacking. The blast hit Jenova just before she managed to recreate the barrier and damaged her severely.
"Damnit!!" Cid cursed seeing the barrier come back up. "How the hell do we destroy her with that barrier?"
"Freeze" Red shouted, almost drowning Cid out. "We have to destroy the materia, that's the only way… she's invulnerable til we get rid of it!"
"Any ideas?" Reeve asked as he continued trying to cast support spells.
"Ultima" Yuffie ignored them all and continued keeping Jenova distracted from the conversation. Vincent was still Chaos but his attacks were getting weaker as he lost strength. Eventually he lost his hold over the chaos beast and reverted back to his normal self. Tifa moved to heal him as Barret covered them both with a hail of bullets from his gun arm.
"Now you will die!" Jenova said maliciously as she created the barrier again. She knew that there was no way they could stop her. The Cetra that they had brought with them wasn't strong enough against her. She wanted to finish this upstart group before she summoned Meteor again. "By the power of the black materia I call DARK HOLY"
Darkness covered the group, and surrounded them in evil energy. Blood red lightning crackled and hit each of the members of the party. When the evil dissipated no one was standing, Aeris had been the worst effected and she was almost unconscious. The rest were struggling to get back up on their feet. Just then the three Turks entered the battle. Reno kept Jenova occupied whilst Rude used magic to heal Avalanche and Elena used items that she had to heal. Once Aeris managed to get on her feet she called out "Great Gospel" to fully restore the entire group, and she created a protective barrier to rival Jenovas' over everyone, including the Turks.
"I thought I told you to stay with the Highwind?" Cloud asked, completely exasperated with the Turks, although he did have to admit, privately, that they had saved their skins.
"Let's just say we don't take orders well" Reno replied, as everyone got ready for round two of the battle.
Just as Jenova was about to cast dark holy again, the Black Materia was knocked from her hand, Angel had sneaked into the battlefield, whilst Jenova had been distracted. Now she stood between Jenova and where the Black materia had landed, her sword crackled with white lightning, "Do you want to try that again?" she enquired as she moved towards the Black Materia, keeping an eye on Jenova "Aeris I need your help with this."
Jenova attempted to attack both Cetra, but the Turks, Sephiroth and Avalanche re-engaged the battle, preventing her from getting near them.
Aeris walked over towards the Black Materia and raised her staff, just as Angel raised her sword, white lightning started to play over the surface of the staff. Both weapons glowed with the power of Holy as they came crashing down on the small materia orb.
"NOOOOO!" Jenova screamed as the orb shattered into dust and her barrier faded into nothing. Jenova knew she was vunerable now.
"She can be destroyed now" Aeris shouted to Cloud as Jenova tried to escape.
"That's just what I needed to hear! Omnislash" Cloud replied, unleashing his final limit just as Sephiroth called out "Multislash!" Both men repeatedly hit Jenova with their swords, as everyone else attacked with Ultima and other high-powered spells. Aeris and Angel watched as the two men finished their joint limit and moved out the way just before Red used his Cosmo Memory limit to finish her off.
As the body of Jenova crashed to the ground, the cavern started to tremble and shake. Small rocks bounced from the ceiling and walls as large cracks appeared in the floor.
"We've gotta get outta here" Yuffie panicked as everyone began to run towards the exit. Reeve intercepted her and managed to drag her out of the way of a rock, that was falling towards the cavern exit. Once the dust cleared they could see that the cavern was sealed. There was no way out.
" ^&$&^%$, Lady Luck don't fail me now" Cid prayed as he tried to find a way out of the unstable area without success. Then they noticed that there were strands of green energy twisting around them.
" What is going on?" Cloud asked in confusion " Why is the Lifestream here?"
"No idea, but it won't help if we get killed!" Reno replied.
The Lifestream energy surrounded everyone, just as the cavern completely caved in, enclosing them all in a protective bubble.
* Well done * The Planet echoed in their minds.
Sephiroth looked around as he tried to see who had spoken " Who's that?" he asked baffled.
"It is the Planet, Sephiroth" Angel told him smiling "Looks like the Planet forgives you for what you did."
"It has?"
Cloud looked at the protective barrier around them, he could see the rocks of the cavern on the outside. He shuddered and hoped that the Planet would help then get out of this trap.
*I chose you all well, continue on with Protecting the people * The Planet said. The barrier created by the Lifestream became a sheet of energy and the cavern faded from view. Avalanches' perspective shifted and they found themselves standing on the deck of the Highwind.
" How did we get here?" Rude asked looking round in shock.
"The planet transported us here" Aeris said walking towards the main entrance of the Highwind. Once she got to the door, Marlene charged out and ran to her father. Barret picked her up and hugged her promising her that he'd never leave her alone again.
"Hang on, what'd the planet mean?" Cid asked curiously, as everyone started to walk down towards the bridge. "Why did it say that?"
Angel looked at the puzzled faces of everyone around her and laughed, she knew exactly what the Planet had meant, and she found it amusing. "I'm not explaining Aeris, you do it" she said once she calmed down enough.
"And I thought you weren't a coward Sis!" Sephiroth grinned at her, he loved to tease Angel "So what did the planet mean?"
"Go ahead Angel" Aeris looked highly amused by the whole thing, "It's your responsibility, remember, you were the one who started this"
"You win Aeris" Angel sighed "The purpose of the Lifestream, was to acknowledge you as Protectors of the Planet, like me and Aeris, all of you are Cetra now"
Everyone stopped walking and turned to stare at Angel, shocked, and in most cases speechless. Sephiroth didn't believe it and his face clearly showed the disbelief.
"You're joking right?" Reeve asked breaking the silence. "You're playing a prank on us.."
"Nope, it's the truth. We are the new Cetra. Charged with protecting the Planet and maintaining the Lifestream." Aeris said walking away. "Now, Let's go home"