Fantasy Thunder Chapter Twelve: Mu
By Blue Dragon
Mu has a way of putting brawn over brains. Only a true genius could stop his wrath.
Oren walked to the group of punching bags in the now deserted training room.
I may not have Omega's power much longer, but I'm still a Zatach. I'm still Oren. And I am still strong. I will fight.
He reeled back his arm, and punched, front flipped his heel back into the bag, did a roundhouse right into the middle, and finished with a tornado punch that knocked the red bag over the bar three times a split second after he jumped to safety.
He didn't notice Seifer behind him, who had intended on an inquisition. Of course when Oren had calm down, he felt his mind light up with the twelve- percent energy signal he got from Seifer.
"Hello Seifer" he said without turning around.
"Hey, Oren. Could I ask you some stuff?"
Oren sat down on the mat and looked at Seifer signaling that he was all ears.
"Would you say you liked Jessica? A lot?"
He was surprised by the question. Seifer sat down in front of him.
"Yes. I like her a lot. Very much. Why do you ask?"
"I don't want to sound like I'm prying, but would you kiss her?"
Oren looked like he had been slapped. His eyes grew wide and Seifer was afraid he had offended him.
"Excuse me? Would I kiss her? I think not! It would feel like kissing my sister. Goodness, don't scare me like that. I like her, but not that much, if that's what you're asking"
Seifer let out a slight smile, happy that he had only startled the Zatach.
"Wait a minute. Why do you ask?"
The look of horror that spread on Seifer's face was a dead giveaway.
"Dude, don't do that. We're guys. Guys hide their feelings because of a natural macho in them. You can't go around doing a bad job of hiding it. Either you admit it or you hide it well. I recommend the latter."
"Uh, right, thanks" Seifer stood up and walked out briskly, Oren shaking his head from side to side.
***
Sephiroth sat on a bench in a particular corner of the garden where he was sure he wouldn't be noticed. He was waiting for Rikku, who had to leave due to an announcement. She found him again, however, and sat down by him.
"What were we talking about?" he asked without looking at her.
"You were telling me about how mean some people would be if they saw you"
"Well, you see, they would be angry to see me. I've done horrible things that cannot be forgiven. They'd attempt to kill me. And fighting back would get me in trouble"
"Tell them that and ignore them"
"That's easy for you to say. . . but you're right. I'll try that. Thank you"
"Don't mention it" Rikku stood up to leave.
"Wait" Sephiroth said before he could stop himself.
She turned to face him.
"Yeah?"
"Uh. . . um. . . do you want to go to the balcony?" She shrugged her shoulders.
"Sure, why not?"
Sephiroth was relieved at the neutral response. He picked up his sword and sheathed it once more, put the polish into one of his pockets, and walked beside Rikku to the smaller doors on the southern area of the floor, where they passed through.
He had seen signs marking the entrance to the balcony, but Sephiroth had never actually been there. He was amazed at the new feature of beauty. The garden at the time was floating over Balamb sea, and the smooth steel balcony added a futuristic mood to the view of the horizon that was blue on both sides.
Rikku walked to the railing and leaned on it.
"What an idea to come here. This is beautiful, Sephiroth"
Old Sephiroth hadn't even known himself. He had just made a miserable excuse to keep Rikku from leaving.
Maybe if I keep this up I can be a stud without even knowing.
Sephiroth considered going to her to get a closer view of the balcony. He decided affirmatively, and walked over to her.
"It is a nice view" he said conversationally.
"Yeah. You can see the sea for miles. . . is that a town over there?"
"I wouldn't know. This is also my first time around here"
She turned to him.
"Are you trying to stay close to me? I don't mind if you don't want me to leave"
Sephiroth immediately tried to hide it.
"What gave you that idea? I was just lonely and bored. And I happen to find you're presence more comforting that all of the clowns here"
She smiled.
"Right"
They stared at the horizon thinking different things for a few minutes. A rustle to the left interrupted them, however. They both looked to find a woman in white brushing herself off and straightening her black hair.
She looked up and smiled as if she just noticed them.
"Have you seen Oren anywhere around here? I need to talk to him"
"I saw him going to the training area in one of the higher floors" Rikku attempted to be helpful.
"Really? Thank you that's all I need to know"
"Wait" Sephiroth called as she headed for the exit.
"What's you're name?"
"My name is Iota. I'm just a student"
She left out of the door, but the strange thing was they no longer heard her footsteps. Furthermore, they hadn't heard her come in, either.
"Was her name Iota? Sephiroth asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Yes" Rikku said absent-mindedly.
"Wait a minute. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, ETA, THETA, IOTA!"
Rikku snapped to attention.
"You're right!"
"We have to warn Oren!"
The two rushed out into the hallway and scrambled down to the elevator.
As the two rushed down at a brisk pace along the floor Sephiroth stopped dead in his tracks. There looking straight at him were Barret and Vincent. For a second no one spoke and Rikku stopped after noticing Sephiroth's movement come to a sudden close.
"Am I just seeing things, or am a starin' at Sephiroth?" Barret said it like he didn't want to believe it.
***
Oren paced about in the training area thinking about a battle strategy in the event of another fight.
He felt a presence behind him and turned. Then he wished he had stayed turned around.
"I probably know you from somewhere" he said slowly.
She nodded.
"Oren Murasaki. It has been a while. Do you have any idea what happens today?"
Oren shook his head.
"Kappa and I are going to come here and beat you halfway. Kill off half of your group, maybe injure them half to death. If you're too much for us, which I doubt, then Eta Theta and Lambda will assist us."
"I take it you're Iota?"
"You don't remember me? You can take Omega away from us but-"
"I've about had it with that title. Before this is over I'm going to prove that I did nothing!"
"Do you think anyone believes your lies? And you made recruits out of allies to people like Kuja, Sephiroth, how could you?"
". . . They weren't pawns, just temporary allies. When you accused them, not even that was true"
She shifted her weight to another foot.
"What we meant was that they worked for them. We meant that they were loyal to those bastards."
"And I am telling you for a fact that that isn't true. When do you plan on killing, or trying to kill me?"
"Well, we could do it now, but we want to finish off you're whole group later because it fits in for a plan with a new device we've been testing. Also, we wanted to save your death for all of us to watch, and from the person who loved him the most."
"Iota, answer me this? Who said that my soldiers were pawns to those. . . guys?"
"Pyros told us" she said simply.
"Pyros told you? What do you mean Pyros told you? You're just going to go by what he says? What if he told you that if you sleep after you drink milk, magic monkeys will fly out of your pores and give you candy?"
"Don't be ridiculous. We aren't fascists, but we go by what he shows us"
"What evidence have you?"
The two locked eyes.
"It is time for you to fight us, Oren Murasaki!!"
Eta, Blue hair, blue uniform; Theta, white uniform; Kappa, strangely normal clothing; and a new addition, Lambda.
Lambda was pretty hyper. He paced around back and forth, forward and back over and over pounding his fist into his hand hard and fast, then looking at Oren as if charged with electricity. His hair seemed just that, as it stuck straight up. He also bore a strange resemblance to Cid Highwind.
"This isn't the least bit fair! I don't have any of my fighters avai-"
"Quit you're bellyaching, Oren" Theta growled cracking his knuckles. "Call you're men. But you have to fight me one on one. . . " he materialized and energy blade connected to his wrist.
"If that's the case. . . " Oren did the same. Slowly afterwards, he pulled the universal P. A. connector out of his cloak's pocket.
"All trained members, we have a big problem. Report to the training area immediately and I will explain it, or rather it will explain itself"
Pyros' warriors smiled to hear this.
"Cloud's group will fight you, Kappa. Squall's group should be more than a match, Iota. Zidane and his friends will fight you, Lambda. And Eta will face the summoner and her guardians."
No one had any objections.
***
Freya balanced the lance on her back as she scoped the training area, jungle terrain.
"This garden is actually quite efficient," she thought aloud.
The place, she noticed, actually simulated a real background and seemed to blend in perfectly with the monsters that were there to battle. She had seen things called Grats and Ochus, all very jungle-like. Of course she was there purely for her skills to develop and had been for hours. Unfortunately, none of the monsters seemed like a true test of her skill.
She scanned the rock, the trees, the ground, ignoring the frequent exit routes in case you were injured and needed to leave. They would interfere with her training as a Dragon Knight, which had mostly revolved around on basic assumption: The place you were fighting would be natural terrain.
Over the rocks ahead she noticed a narrow gap between to tall gray boulders that seemed to lead to something.
Probably somewhere with more than these pitiful monsters.
She easily squeezed right through, she had always been light and thin, and adjusted her hat as it had become crooked in her transition.
Maybe the real reason I'm here is because of the students giving me strange looks. I doubt any of them have ever seen a Burmecian. I must look like a rat with legs.
She was only thankful for heavy covering in red Burmecian garments and her favorite cap.
Up ahead of her she saw a waterfall and heard the sound of somebody yelling battle cries in what seemed to be a strange language.
She scanned the waterfall for possible ways to get up, wondering how whoever was there could have gotten there in the first place.
"Of course, he got here from the proper area so of course he would be able to get there!"
Freya was well ready for a challenge. She stood on one rock in the series of rocks lining the steep waterfall, and began bounding from rock to rock.
Slowly but surely the Burmecian made progress and then carefully timed the jumps so that she didn't have to fall back down and start over again.
The roaring of the waterfall was a big help because it helped Freya ignore the artificial part of her surroundings and to focus on what was ahead, tapping into her instincts as a Knight was much easier.
Finally she jumped on a rock that was close enough to the top where the clearing was where she had heard battle.
Freya finished this jump with a good dragon flip into the air and onto the ground, smiling as she landed as silently as she did quickly.
***
Kimahri swung his lance one more time in an upward slash, and the hexadragon decided Kimahri was more trouble than he was worth. In the process of its retreat, it dropped a small bag that likely contained gil, although why monsters dropped gil was still beyond him.
"That was a nice display of skill. Would you like to test it on me?" Freya surprised Kimahri. He turned around to face her and slowly nodded his head.
She seemed pretty cocky.
"You already know me, and I know you so we can save to introductions. How confident are you in the skill of your lance?"
"Kimahri very confident. Kimahri has honored Ronso tribe with great strength, and believes he has been through enough to face any opponent" he responded as Freya walked to position directly across from him in the green clearing.
"Lets begin" Freya said, putting her lance into position in front of her with the right leg slightly back but leaning the wait on the front.
Not being a Ronso to waste time, Kimahri seemed to hover above the ground as he charged forward at a smooth speed, his golden eyes focused on that particular point on the opponent's lance. . .
There was a clanging sound as the point of his lance touched one weak point on Freya's, throwing her off balance and off guard for a split second. One split second too long.
Kimahri dropped the Spirit Lance in towards the one opening, but the Dragon Knight recovered from the blow and parried using the Burmecians' exceptional reaction times.
Kimahri came forward again and dug the points of his lance into what ended up as Freya's. As the points were tangled, both got the same idea. They thrust out the ends of the lances attempting to hit the other with it, circling each other as they did so. Any outsider would think they were performing some sort of strange dance. They both thrust one final time, loosening the blades out of their tangle and making it possible to fight properly again.
The Ronso used his springy legs to make a front flip a good fourteen feet into the air, and was surprised when Freya managed to follow him two feet higher.
There, they began an aerial battle so fast that for ten seconds they actually stayed there.
Thrust, parry, block, parry, thrust, thrust, parry block, parry, parry, block, slash, thrust, parry was Freya's main pattern.
Parry, thrust, slash, thrust, parry, parry, thrust, slash, thrust, thrust, slash, block, parry, thrust was Kimahri's. Soon they both figured each other out and stopped the fight, descending back to earth.
They were both ready for more, but an announcement rung over the P. A. system telling all trained fighters to report to the training area.
"We'll finish this later" Freya said.
Kimahri nodded in silent agreement, and the two jumped down the waterfall and sprinted to the training area.
***
Sephiroth blinked.
Barret blinked.
"Sephiroth!? You!? I can't believe it! YOU'RE here? You should be dead!"
"See shat I mean?" Sephiroth whispered to Rikku. She nodded.
"As much as I'd like to be told I should be dead, I have something urgent and important to report. So if I could pass-"
"Not a chance" Barret leveled his gun-arm and Vincent slowly set his hand on the Death Penalty at his side.
The P. A. system clicked on, commanding all trained fighters to report to the training area.
". . . There ain't no way I'm leaving you alone. You'd better come with us"
Sephiroth's shoulders went lazy.
"I was kind of on my way there. So if you don't mind."
He held Rikku in his grasp and floated up to the floor above them.
"Why is she going!" Barret asked, hustling to the elevator.
"I'm a trained fighter," she explained from a floor higher while Vincent waited for Barret to make it to the elevator. The two walked out and rushed to keep up with Sephiroth who they couldn't trust.
"I'll deal with you later" Barret said, walking into the training room with Vincent.
"Yeah right" Sephiroth scoffed. He looked at Rikku.
"You go ahead. I'll wait here if you need me."
She nodded.
"I'll see you later then?" she asked.
"Sure"
With that she went in through the three layers of steel doors.
***
The Turks were the last ones in. They, like everyone else, noticed that Oren seemed nervous, and had an energy blade of blue attached to his wrist.
"You can come out now" he said to a corridor.
Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, and Lambda showed themselves.
When everyone recognized who they might be, half of the people more impulsive people in the room immediately unholstered, unsheathed, withdrew, and revealed quite a number of weapons.
"I will be engaging the summoner and her guardians. My name is Eta" Eta, blue haired, blue dressed gave a courtly bow. "I will try not to-"
"Theta. I'm only interested in fighting Oren" Theta rudely cut her off, looking about ready to materialize something.
"Iota, I will fight with the commander and his crew," she said coolly, cracking her fingers one by one.
"MynameisLambdadonotkeepme.I apologize. I cannot stay still. My name is Lambda, I will be killing the king and his pets"
"Some of you have met me, my name is Kappa. This time I will put to good use the power I have. Do not expect mercy like last time."
***
Cloud relaxed a little. There were only five this time, and they didn't seem like a very impressive bunch. Not only that, but they were supercharged and just waiting to use the power they got earlier. On top of that, they had experience from previous battles and knew what to expect.
He thought this would be easy. He was wrong.
The group took normal formation. Fortunately, the training area was just as stable and a little bigger than the place of their last battle.
This time, Rude Reno and Elena didn't seem to hesitate to take nice positions in the back where spots were clear for firing. They had a new pattern and were sure that the way they shot would not be easily avoidable. Vincent was a better shot and more valuable, therefore he was even further back. Yuffie was mid range with Reeve and his SOCOM. He had also purchased a Makarov and some other pistol from a store by the D-District Prison. He felt that automatic weapons weren't his style. Barret was a little between the Turks and Vincent, staying clear a bit so that his automatic weapon didn't produce friendly fire. None of the group had yet bothered to mention Aeris, or Sephiroth for that matter. The time was not yet right.
Cid, Tifa, and Cloud were near the front, Red behind them.
With their refined battle plans and their new found powers including a one- hundred and eight percent increase in strength, one hundred and fifty-seven percent increase in speed, fifty-eight percent increased reaction times, and new ability to stand eighty-seven percent more, they made a small army and felt safe and confident of victory.
They were wrong.
The bearers of firearms began their first assault, expecting to end it right there. Kappa only raised an eyebrow and didn't move. He was hit with normal and automatic fire. It took a few seconds to realize that the bullets were bouncing harmlessly and tracking sparks.
Cloud thrust his sword forward and struck toward the middle of Kappa's chest with his sword extended forward, trailing fire behind him as he struck with all his might.
"Hah. Show off. No time to be wasted"
Cloud's sword nearly bent on the Zatach's chest, he beamed a thin red line across all enemies, and it disappeared.
A pain followed that made them fall to the ground with agony.
Cloud dropped his sword and fell to the ground clutching his abdomen as Kappa only looked at them wide-eyed.
"What the hell? That should have killed you! You're--stupid me. Oren gave you Zatach power, right? Well that means now I can't cut you in half like I was planning. How about more of a." he stopped short as he looked at the fallen group with even larger eyebrows.
"Then again. . . " he walked away, leaving the 'army' on the ground.
"I've finished the fourth!" he yelled to the allies.
"You guys kill two-fourths and injure the other fourth!"
Iota knew she was much better at killing than Eta, so she left the injury to her. She was going for the kill. The immediate kill. This would be one that she had many options to. She decided on atomic compression.
"I have decided to kill you with atomic compression" she said to commander Leonhart and friends.
"But first, I have to take care of a meddling girl named Jessica trying to ambush me from above. . . " she said, smiling upwards just as Jessica appeared seemingly out of nowhere slamming downwards, leaving a crater of gas in the polymer mat where Iota once was, and Iota's afterimage of quick movement.
She tsked.
"I didn't count on you being here." She looked at Squall who looked ready to Lionheart. "I'm so sorry, my friends. Our little fights will have to wait. You understand, don't you?"
She didn't give them a chance to answer when she flew up into the air after Jessica.
Zidane slowly got up from the ground. He was seriously tired of being rammed by Lambda who was too fast. He was smashed into the ground again, Lambda's doing.
"I would only seriously injure you, but that is already Kappa and Eta's job. I have to kill you." He said rushing around the fallen group over and over in a deadly circle moving faster than the eye could see.
"Little queen goes first"
That snapped it. With just a little increased speed, Zidane knew that there was only one thing faster than Lambda. A supercharged Terran's Grand Lethal when they were mad.
"Hey there, little man? How about a Grand Lethal?"
Lambda stopped and stared. He fell to his knees and tears streamed down his face. He felt like emotion had overwhelmed him.
"What the heck?" Amarant took this opportunity to stand up.
They then saw something. Lambda was on the ground crying tears of joy.
"Oh my word! OH MY WORD! No way! You insult me? You call me little man? What are you, two feet all? What a-"
Lambda was cut off when a Grand Lethal from an even angrier Zidane tore through the ground and hit him.
"Score" Zidane snapped his fingers.
"Yeah. Lambda one, Losers negative six hundred and thirty-eight" Lambda said brushing himself off when the smoke cleared.
"Dammit" Zidane snapped for a different reason.
Oren was quite engaged with Theta. They had been going one-on-one, fight till you can no more, generated weapon-vs.-generated weapon. Neither seemed to be tiring, but Oren was slowly wearing down Theta.
Finally, Theta collapsed and Oren held the tip of the Altron to his neck.
"You. . . bastard. . . you only won because of Omega's strength."
"Omega was not a swordsman. It was my own skill that got me through"
". . . If you kill me, Iota will avenge me."
"Really?"
Oren slammed the side of Theta's head with the flat side of the Altron and he collapsed in a heap.
How was Eta doing with the summoner and her guardians? Forget that. They were on the brink of death. Of course Eta didn't come close to finishing them off because she didn't like to kill.
"I won't kill you" she said simply.
Zidane's group was recovering, but only to Lambda's leisure. He looked over at Iota who was busy with Jessica.
"Iota, when you're done with Jessica and Ultimecia's pets, that is the only time I can kill my group" he said, completely ignoring Zidane.
"I have to kill Jessica first. Keep them down a while" she called.
Amarant, as he was the tallest, felt the crush of unseen pressure push him down. Steiner didn't feel it as much with armor along with Beatrix, Zidane and Dagger had been through worse, Quina frankly didn't care, and Freya had the training of a Dragon Knight on her side the first part. But Vivi and Eiko's frail bodies were experiencing the most punishment. Lambda smiled, as soon there was a sickening crack when each and every member of Zidane's team had arms, legs, and parts of their backs broken.
Otherworldly moans rang out. Eiko held back the tears, Vivi would have cried if he could.
"I trust you won't be going anywhere. I'll crush you once Iota has finished cleaning up the trash."
Jessica was pinned down under Iota's knife, her boot on her chest just out of Seifer's sight.
"Now. . . " she raised the dagger and brought it down.
The next events happened within a tenth of a second.
Oren flew. He flew both literally and figuratively. The moment he saw that knife come down, he simply flew.
Pushing wouldn't work. . . neither would slamming, nothing. One would work. Something Oren had never done before. Killing.
Have you ever thought about killing? Everyone thinks about it as something that makes a story good or adds a little extra something. But you know what? Killing isn't cool. Not to Oren. Killing is ripping someone away from life, love, possible happiness, the ones that love them, everything. Is killing really all that good? Or fun? Well Oren was about to do it to save one he loved. Even if he would have to kill someone. Kill. What an ugly word. Kill.
The Altron pierced Iota's stomach. She blinked for a second.
". . . Theta?" That was her last word. She never finished the message. The whole room was silent. Then Eta began laughing. Slow at first, but then maniacal. Soon Kappa joined in. And then Lambda and even Theta laughed. The corpse fell over Jessica and landed beside her as she stood up.
"You!" Theta pointed like he was talking to an old friend.
"You're not satisfied with killing Omega? You kill my only love too? And put Pyros on our asses forever? Not cool. Damn you. You will die. We will ALL get a chance to kill you, Oren Tvaar Murasaki."
The revived Theta disappeared from view and off to his ship.
Kappa looked at the corpse, then Oren.
"Even Alpha through Zeta will want a piece of you now. Forget the others, when we come back we only want you"
He disappeared into nothing.
Lambda shook his head.
"You will die for this. You killed Omega, now Iota. Sweet Iota. You will die for this"
He disappeared as well.
Eta stared closely at the corpse.
"I.never wanted to kill. Now I know why I should. People like you. You'll take all I love till I have nothing else? Right? Congratulations. You have made me a cold-blooded killer"
Eta was the last to leave.
Oren stared at the corpse, as it turned white and materialized like Zatachs bodied do.
"She returned. . . " he broke the silence.
Jessica put a hand on his shoulder. He shook it off.
"Zatach's bodies return to the planet in the form of energy. The planet is gone; her energy is just wandering now. Never to return. I helped kill her. I DID kill her. I am a killer"
He looked at the ceiling.
"What have I done!?" he launched himself up and burst a hole through the ceiling. Plaster fell and landed near Iota's dagger. The silence remained.
Oren was nowhere to be found.
________________________________________________________________________
AN: Review this chapter, please. Also, I appreciate BloodyVixen's frequent reviews and everyone else. You really do care!
By Blue Dragon
Mu has a way of putting brawn over brains. Only a true genius could stop his wrath.
Oren walked to the group of punching bags in the now deserted training room.
I may not have Omega's power much longer, but I'm still a Zatach. I'm still Oren. And I am still strong. I will fight.
He reeled back his arm, and punched, front flipped his heel back into the bag, did a roundhouse right into the middle, and finished with a tornado punch that knocked the red bag over the bar three times a split second after he jumped to safety.
He didn't notice Seifer behind him, who had intended on an inquisition. Of course when Oren had calm down, he felt his mind light up with the twelve- percent energy signal he got from Seifer.
"Hello Seifer" he said without turning around.
"Hey, Oren. Could I ask you some stuff?"
Oren sat down on the mat and looked at Seifer signaling that he was all ears.
"Would you say you liked Jessica? A lot?"
He was surprised by the question. Seifer sat down in front of him.
"Yes. I like her a lot. Very much. Why do you ask?"
"I don't want to sound like I'm prying, but would you kiss her?"
Oren looked like he had been slapped. His eyes grew wide and Seifer was afraid he had offended him.
"Excuse me? Would I kiss her? I think not! It would feel like kissing my sister. Goodness, don't scare me like that. I like her, but not that much, if that's what you're asking"
Seifer let out a slight smile, happy that he had only startled the Zatach.
"Wait a minute. Why do you ask?"
The look of horror that spread on Seifer's face was a dead giveaway.
"Dude, don't do that. We're guys. Guys hide their feelings because of a natural macho in them. You can't go around doing a bad job of hiding it. Either you admit it or you hide it well. I recommend the latter."
"Uh, right, thanks" Seifer stood up and walked out briskly, Oren shaking his head from side to side.
***
Sephiroth sat on a bench in a particular corner of the garden where he was sure he wouldn't be noticed. He was waiting for Rikku, who had to leave due to an announcement. She found him again, however, and sat down by him.
"What were we talking about?" he asked without looking at her.
"You were telling me about how mean some people would be if they saw you"
"Well, you see, they would be angry to see me. I've done horrible things that cannot be forgiven. They'd attempt to kill me. And fighting back would get me in trouble"
"Tell them that and ignore them"
"That's easy for you to say. . . but you're right. I'll try that. Thank you"
"Don't mention it" Rikku stood up to leave.
"Wait" Sephiroth said before he could stop himself.
She turned to face him.
"Yeah?"
"Uh. . . um. . . do you want to go to the balcony?" She shrugged her shoulders.
"Sure, why not?"
Sephiroth was relieved at the neutral response. He picked up his sword and sheathed it once more, put the polish into one of his pockets, and walked beside Rikku to the smaller doors on the southern area of the floor, where they passed through.
He had seen signs marking the entrance to the balcony, but Sephiroth had never actually been there. He was amazed at the new feature of beauty. The garden at the time was floating over Balamb sea, and the smooth steel balcony added a futuristic mood to the view of the horizon that was blue on both sides.
Rikku walked to the railing and leaned on it.
"What an idea to come here. This is beautiful, Sephiroth"
Old Sephiroth hadn't even known himself. He had just made a miserable excuse to keep Rikku from leaving.
Maybe if I keep this up I can be a stud without even knowing.
Sephiroth considered going to her to get a closer view of the balcony. He decided affirmatively, and walked over to her.
"It is a nice view" he said conversationally.
"Yeah. You can see the sea for miles. . . is that a town over there?"
"I wouldn't know. This is also my first time around here"
She turned to him.
"Are you trying to stay close to me? I don't mind if you don't want me to leave"
Sephiroth immediately tried to hide it.
"What gave you that idea? I was just lonely and bored. And I happen to find you're presence more comforting that all of the clowns here"
She smiled.
"Right"
They stared at the horizon thinking different things for a few minutes. A rustle to the left interrupted them, however. They both looked to find a woman in white brushing herself off and straightening her black hair.
She looked up and smiled as if she just noticed them.
"Have you seen Oren anywhere around here? I need to talk to him"
"I saw him going to the training area in one of the higher floors" Rikku attempted to be helpful.
"Really? Thank you that's all I need to know"
"Wait" Sephiroth called as she headed for the exit.
"What's you're name?"
"My name is Iota. I'm just a student"
She left out of the door, but the strange thing was they no longer heard her footsteps. Furthermore, they hadn't heard her come in, either.
"Was her name Iota? Sephiroth asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Yes" Rikku said absent-mindedly.
"Wait a minute. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, ETA, THETA, IOTA!"
Rikku snapped to attention.
"You're right!"
"We have to warn Oren!"
The two rushed out into the hallway and scrambled down to the elevator.
As the two rushed down at a brisk pace along the floor Sephiroth stopped dead in his tracks. There looking straight at him were Barret and Vincent. For a second no one spoke and Rikku stopped after noticing Sephiroth's movement come to a sudden close.
"Am I just seeing things, or am a starin' at Sephiroth?" Barret said it like he didn't want to believe it.
***
Oren paced about in the training area thinking about a battle strategy in the event of another fight.
He felt a presence behind him and turned. Then he wished he had stayed turned around.
"I probably know you from somewhere" he said slowly.
She nodded.
"Oren Murasaki. It has been a while. Do you have any idea what happens today?"
Oren shook his head.
"Kappa and I are going to come here and beat you halfway. Kill off half of your group, maybe injure them half to death. If you're too much for us, which I doubt, then Eta Theta and Lambda will assist us."
"I take it you're Iota?"
"You don't remember me? You can take Omega away from us but-"
"I've about had it with that title. Before this is over I'm going to prove that I did nothing!"
"Do you think anyone believes your lies? And you made recruits out of allies to people like Kuja, Sephiroth, how could you?"
". . . They weren't pawns, just temporary allies. When you accused them, not even that was true"
She shifted her weight to another foot.
"What we meant was that they worked for them. We meant that they were loyal to those bastards."
"And I am telling you for a fact that that isn't true. When do you plan on killing, or trying to kill me?"
"Well, we could do it now, but we want to finish off you're whole group later because it fits in for a plan with a new device we've been testing. Also, we wanted to save your death for all of us to watch, and from the person who loved him the most."
"Iota, answer me this? Who said that my soldiers were pawns to those. . . guys?"
"Pyros told us" she said simply.
"Pyros told you? What do you mean Pyros told you? You're just going to go by what he says? What if he told you that if you sleep after you drink milk, magic monkeys will fly out of your pores and give you candy?"
"Don't be ridiculous. We aren't fascists, but we go by what he shows us"
"What evidence have you?"
The two locked eyes.
"It is time for you to fight us, Oren Murasaki!!"
Eta, Blue hair, blue uniform; Theta, white uniform; Kappa, strangely normal clothing; and a new addition, Lambda.
Lambda was pretty hyper. He paced around back and forth, forward and back over and over pounding his fist into his hand hard and fast, then looking at Oren as if charged with electricity. His hair seemed just that, as it stuck straight up. He also bore a strange resemblance to Cid Highwind.
"This isn't the least bit fair! I don't have any of my fighters avai-"
"Quit you're bellyaching, Oren" Theta growled cracking his knuckles. "Call you're men. But you have to fight me one on one. . . " he materialized and energy blade connected to his wrist.
"If that's the case. . . " Oren did the same. Slowly afterwards, he pulled the universal P. A. connector out of his cloak's pocket.
"All trained members, we have a big problem. Report to the training area immediately and I will explain it, or rather it will explain itself"
Pyros' warriors smiled to hear this.
"Cloud's group will fight you, Kappa. Squall's group should be more than a match, Iota. Zidane and his friends will fight you, Lambda. And Eta will face the summoner and her guardians."
No one had any objections.
***
Freya balanced the lance on her back as she scoped the training area, jungle terrain.
"This garden is actually quite efficient," she thought aloud.
The place, she noticed, actually simulated a real background and seemed to blend in perfectly with the monsters that were there to battle. She had seen things called Grats and Ochus, all very jungle-like. Of course she was there purely for her skills to develop and had been for hours. Unfortunately, none of the monsters seemed like a true test of her skill.
She scanned the rock, the trees, the ground, ignoring the frequent exit routes in case you were injured and needed to leave. They would interfere with her training as a Dragon Knight, which had mostly revolved around on basic assumption: The place you were fighting would be natural terrain.
Over the rocks ahead she noticed a narrow gap between to tall gray boulders that seemed to lead to something.
Probably somewhere with more than these pitiful monsters.
She easily squeezed right through, she had always been light and thin, and adjusted her hat as it had become crooked in her transition.
Maybe the real reason I'm here is because of the students giving me strange looks. I doubt any of them have ever seen a Burmecian. I must look like a rat with legs.
She was only thankful for heavy covering in red Burmecian garments and her favorite cap.
Up ahead of her she saw a waterfall and heard the sound of somebody yelling battle cries in what seemed to be a strange language.
She scanned the waterfall for possible ways to get up, wondering how whoever was there could have gotten there in the first place.
"Of course, he got here from the proper area so of course he would be able to get there!"
Freya was well ready for a challenge. She stood on one rock in the series of rocks lining the steep waterfall, and began bounding from rock to rock.
Slowly but surely the Burmecian made progress and then carefully timed the jumps so that she didn't have to fall back down and start over again.
The roaring of the waterfall was a big help because it helped Freya ignore the artificial part of her surroundings and to focus on what was ahead, tapping into her instincts as a Knight was much easier.
Finally she jumped on a rock that was close enough to the top where the clearing was where she had heard battle.
Freya finished this jump with a good dragon flip into the air and onto the ground, smiling as she landed as silently as she did quickly.
***
Kimahri swung his lance one more time in an upward slash, and the hexadragon decided Kimahri was more trouble than he was worth. In the process of its retreat, it dropped a small bag that likely contained gil, although why monsters dropped gil was still beyond him.
"That was a nice display of skill. Would you like to test it on me?" Freya surprised Kimahri. He turned around to face her and slowly nodded his head.
She seemed pretty cocky.
"You already know me, and I know you so we can save to introductions. How confident are you in the skill of your lance?"
"Kimahri very confident. Kimahri has honored Ronso tribe with great strength, and believes he has been through enough to face any opponent" he responded as Freya walked to position directly across from him in the green clearing.
"Lets begin" Freya said, putting her lance into position in front of her with the right leg slightly back but leaning the wait on the front.
Not being a Ronso to waste time, Kimahri seemed to hover above the ground as he charged forward at a smooth speed, his golden eyes focused on that particular point on the opponent's lance. . .
There was a clanging sound as the point of his lance touched one weak point on Freya's, throwing her off balance and off guard for a split second. One split second too long.
Kimahri dropped the Spirit Lance in towards the one opening, but the Dragon Knight recovered from the blow and parried using the Burmecians' exceptional reaction times.
Kimahri came forward again and dug the points of his lance into what ended up as Freya's. As the points were tangled, both got the same idea. They thrust out the ends of the lances attempting to hit the other with it, circling each other as they did so. Any outsider would think they were performing some sort of strange dance. They both thrust one final time, loosening the blades out of their tangle and making it possible to fight properly again.
The Ronso used his springy legs to make a front flip a good fourteen feet into the air, and was surprised when Freya managed to follow him two feet higher.
There, they began an aerial battle so fast that for ten seconds they actually stayed there.
Thrust, parry, block, parry, thrust, thrust, parry block, parry, parry, block, slash, thrust, parry was Freya's main pattern.
Parry, thrust, slash, thrust, parry, parry, thrust, slash, thrust, thrust, slash, block, parry, thrust was Kimahri's. Soon they both figured each other out and stopped the fight, descending back to earth.
They were both ready for more, but an announcement rung over the P. A. system telling all trained fighters to report to the training area.
"We'll finish this later" Freya said.
Kimahri nodded in silent agreement, and the two jumped down the waterfall and sprinted to the training area.
***
Sephiroth blinked.
Barret blinked.
"Sephiroth!? You!? I can't believe it! YOU'RE here? You should be dead!"
"See shat I mean?" Sephiroth whispered to Rikku. She nodded.
"As much as I'd like to be told I should be dead, I have something urgent and important to report. So if I could pass-"
"Not a chance" Barret leveled his gun-arm and Vincent slowly set his hand on the Death Penalty at his side.
The P. A. system clicked on, commanding all trained fighters to report to the training area.
". . . There ain't no way I'm leaving you alone. You'd better come with us"
Sephiroth's shoulders went lazy.
"I was kind of on my way there. So if you don't mind."
He held Rikku in his grasp and floated up to the floor above them.
"Why is she going!" Barret asked, hustling to the elevator.
"I'm a trained fighter," she explained from a floor higher while Vincent waited for Barret to make it to the elevator. The two walked out and rushed to keep up with Sephiroth who they couldn't trust.
"I'll deal with you later" Barret said, walking into the training room with Vincent.
"Yeah right" Sephiroth scoffed. He looked at Rikku.
"You go ahead. I'll wait here if you need me."
She nodded.
"I'll see you later then?" she asked.
"Sure"
With that she went in through the three layers of steel doors.
***
The Turks were the last ones in. They, like everyone else, noticed that Oren seemed nervous, and had an energy blade of blue attached to his wrist.
"You can come out now" he said to a corridor.
Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, and Lambda showed themselves.
When everyone recognized who they might be, half of the people more impulsive people in the room immediately unholstered, unsheathed, withdrew, and revealed quite a number of weapons.
"I will be engaging the summoner and her guardians. My name is Eta" Eta, blue haired, blue dressed gave a courtly bow. "I will try not to-"
"Theta. I'm only interested in fighting Oren" Theta rudely cut her off, looking about ready to materialize something.
"Iota, I will fight with the commander and his crew," she said coolly, cracking her fingers one by one.
"MynameisLambdadonotkeepme.I apologize. I cannot stay still. My name is Lambda, I will be killing the king and his pets"
"Some of you have met me, my name is Kappa. This time I will put to good use the power I have. Do not expect mercy like last time."
***
Cloud relaxed a little. There were only five this time, and they didn't seem like a very impressive bunch. Not only that, but they were supercharged and just waiting to use the power they got earlier. On top of that, they had experience from previous battles and knew what to expect.
He thought this would be easy. He was wrong.
The group took normal formation. Fortunately, the training area was just as stable and a little bigger than the place of their last battle.
This time, Rude Reno and Elena didn't seem to hesitate to take nice positions in the back where spots were clear for firing. They had a new pattern and were sure that the way they shot would not be easily avoidable. Vincent was a better shot and more valuable, therefore he was even further back. Yuffie was mid range with Reeve and his SOCOM. He had also purchased a Makarov and some other pistol from a store by the D-District Prison. He felt that automatic weapons weren't his style. Barret was a little between the Turks and Vincent, staying clear a bit so that his automatic weapon didn't produce friendly fire. None of the group had yet bothered to mention Aeris, or Sephiroth for that matter. The time was not yet right.
Cid, Tifa, and Cloud were near the front, Red behind them.
With their refined battle plans and their new found powers including a one- hundred and eight percent increase in strength, one hundred and fifty-seven percent increase in speed, fifty-eight percent increased reaction times, and new ability to stand eighty-seven percent more, they made a small army and felt safe and confident of victory.
They were wrong.
The bearers of firearms began their first assault, expecting to end it right there. Kappa only raised an eyebrow and didn't move. He was hit with normal and automatic fire. It took a few seconds to realize that the bullets were bouncing harmlessly and tracking sparks.
Cloud thrust his sword forward and struck toward the middle of Kappa's chest with his sword extended forward, trailing fire behind him as he struck with all his might.
"Hah. Show off. No time to be wasted"
Cloud's sword nearly bent on the Zatach's chest, he beamed a thin red line across all enemies, and it disappeared.
A pain followed that made them fall to the ground with agony.
Cloud dropped his sword and fell to the ground clutching his abdomen as Kappa only looked at them wide-eyed.
"What the hell? That should have killed you! You're--stupid me. Oren gave you Zatach power, right? Well that means now I can't cut you in half like I was planning. How about more of a." he stopped short as he looked at the fallen group with even larger eyebrows.
"Then again. . . " he walked away, leaving the 'army' on the ground.
"I've finished the fourth!" he yelled to the allies.
"You guys kill two-fourths and injure the other fourth!"
Iota knew she was much better at killing than Eta, so she left the injury to her. She was going for the kill. The immediate kill. This would be one that she had many options to. She decided on atomic compression.
"I have decided to kill you with atomic compression" she said to commander Leonhart and friends.
"But first, I have to take care of a meddling girl named Jessica trying to ambush me from above. . . " she said, smiling upwards just as Jessica appeared seemingly out of nowhere slamming downwards, leaving a crater of gas in the polymer mat where Iota once was, and Iota's afterimage of quick movement.
She tsked.
"I didn't count on you being here." She looked at Squall who looked ready to Lionheart. "I'm so sorry, my friends. Our little fights will have to wait. You understand, don't you?"
She didn't give them a chance to answer when she flew up into the air after Jessica.
Zidane slowly got up from the ground. He was seriously tired of being rammed by Lambda who was too fast. He was smashed into the ground again, Lambda's doing.
"I would only seriously injure you, but that is already Kappa and Eta's job. I have to kill you." He said rushing around the fallen group over and over in a deadly circle moving faster than the eye could see.
"Little queen goes first"
That snapped it. With just a little increased speed, Zidane knew that there was only one thing faster than Lambda. A supercharged Terran's Grand Lethal when they were mad.
"Hey there, little man? How about a Grand Lethal?"
Lambda stopped and stared. He fell to his knees and tears streamed down his face. He felt like emotion had overwhelmed him.
"What the heck?" Amarant took this opportunity to stand up.
They then saw something. Lambda was on the ground crying tears of joy.
"Oh my word! OH MY WORD! No way! You insult me? You call me little man? What are you, two feet all? What a-"
Lambda was cut off when a Grand Lethal from an even angrier Zidane tore through the ground and hit him.
"Score" Zidane snapped his fingers.
"Yeah. Lambda one, Losers negative six hundred and thirty-eight" Lambda said brushing himself off when the smoke cleared.
"Dammit" Zidane snapped for a different reason.
Oren was quite engaged with Theta. They had been going one-on-one, fight till you can no more, generated weapon-vs.-generated weapon. Neither seemed to be tiring, but Oren was slowly wearing down Theta.
Finally, Theta collapsed and Oren held the tip of the Altron to his neck.
"You. . . bastard. . . you only won because of Omega's strength."
"Omega was not a swordsman. It was my own skill that got me through"
". . . If you kill me, Iota will avenge me."
"Really?"
Oren slammed the side of Theta's head with the flat side of the Altron and he collapsed in a heap.
How was Eta doing with the summoner and her guardians? Forget that. They were on the brink of death. Of course Eta didn't come close to finishing them off because she didn't like to kill.
"I won't kill you" she said simply.
Zidane's group was recovering, but only to Lambda's leisure. He looked over at Iota who was busy with Jessica.
"Iota, when you're done with Jessica and Ultimecia's pets, that is the only time I can kill my group" he said, completely ignoring Zidane.
"I have to kill Jessica first. Keep them down a while" she called.
Amarant, as he was the tallest, felt the crush of unseen pressure push him down. Steiner didn't feel it as much with armor along with Beatrix, Zidane and Dagger had been through worse, Quina frankly didn't care, and Freya had the training of a Dragon Knight on her side the first part. But Vivi and Eiko's frail bodies were experiencing the most punishment. Lambda smiled, as soon there was a sickening crack when each and every member of Zidane's team had arms, legs, and parts of their backs broken.
Otherworldly moans rang out. Eiko held back the tears, Vivi would have cried if he could.
"I trust you won't be going anywhere. I'll crush you once Iota has finished cleaning up the trash."
Jessica was pinned down under Iota's knife, her boot on her chest just out of Seifer's sight.
"Now. . . " she raised the dagger and brought it down.
The next events happened within a tenth of a second.
Oren flew. He flew both literally and figuratively. The moment he saw that knife come down, he simply flew.
Pushing wouldn't work. . . neither would slamming, nothing. One would work. Something Oren had never done before. Killing.
Have you ever thought about killing? Everyone thinks about it as something that makes a story good or adds a little extra something. But you know what? Killing isn't cool. Not to Oren. Killing is ripping someone away from life, love, possible happiness, the ones that love them, everything. Is killing really all that good? Or fun? Well Oren was about to do it to save one he loved. Even if he would have to kill someone. Kill. What an ugly word. Kill.
The Altron pierced Iota's stomach. She blinked for a second.
". . . Theta?" That was her last word. She never finished the message. The whole room was silent. Then Eta began laughing. Slow at first, but then maniacal. Soon Kappa joined in. And then Lambda and even Theta laughed. The corpse fell over Jessica and landed beside her as she stood up.
"You!" Theta pointed like he was talking to an old friend.
"You're not satisfied with killing Omega? You kill my only love too? And put Pyros on our asses forever? Not cool. Damn you. You will die. We will ALL get a chance to kill you, Oren Tvaar Murasaki."
The revived Theta disappeared from view and off to his ship.
Kappa looked at the corpse, then Oren.
"Even Alpha through Zeta will want a piece of you now. Forget the others, when we come back we only want you"
He disappeared into nothing.
Lambda shook his head.
"You will die for this. You killed Omega, now Iota. Sweet Iota. You will die for this"
He disappeared as well.
Eta stared closely at the corpse.
"I.never wanted to kill. Now I know why I should. People like you. You'll take all I love till I have nothing else? Right? Congratulations. You have made me a cold-blooded killer"
Eta was the last to leave.
Oren stared at the corpse, as it turned white and materialized like Zatachs bodied do.
"She returned. . . " he broke the silence.
Jessica put a hand on his shoulder. He shook it off.
"Zatach's bodies return to the planet in the form of energy. The planet is gone; her energy is just wandering now. Never to return. I helped kill her. I DID kill her. I am a killer"
He looked at the ceiling.
"What have I done!?" he launched himself up and burst a hole through the ceiling. Plaster fell and landed near Iota's dagger. The silence remained.
Oren was nowhere to be found.
________________________________________________________________________
AN: Review this chapter, please. Also, I appreciate BloodyVixen's frequent reviews and everyone else. You really do care!