Fantasy Thunder Chapter Twenty-Four: Omega
[Part One]
By Blue Dragon
My strength and patience grow thin . . . it is time for my intervention
The two Pi's looked up, and around.
"We must return to the ship!" Pi number one yelled over the increasing noise.
"Why?" Oren yelled back.
"Getting too close to Fantasy Thunder may kill us!" number two responded as they both blasted upwards, somehow unaffected by the machines temporary limit on their power, and tore holes through the ceilings.
The antagonist was very close, a few meters now. Fantasy Thunder.
Jessica shoved Seifer slightly as he ran.
"What is it?"
"I am the only one here along with Oren that knows this, and he wouldn't be happy about this, but you can stimulate Fantasy Thunder with thoughts. Think of what you want to happen, and it will react!"
"Why hasn't Allen done that?"
She shrugged.
"Just try!"
Seifer concentrated on the first type of world that came to mind.
Of course he didn't expect it, but a sound like distant thunder echoed and then the picture swirled into nothingness, and then even more nothingness. It looked like Ultimecia's little world, just white and some invisible ground. Seifer found he was the only one there.
He looked around.
" . . . Oren?"
Oren appeared out of nowhere and landed flat on his face.
"What did you do?" he asked in a muffled voice, his face on the ground.
"I operated Fantasy Thunder."
He stood up and looked at Seifer sharply.
"Do you know the seriousness of that? We are now the only ones in existence, and our only option is to go back to the real world."
" . . . Now can I just picture a world where everything is solved?"
"FT would have to recreate the entire universe and every other universe, and it doesn't have that power yet, our only option is to return to the real world itself. You now have god-like power . . . "
"How about a cheeseburger?"
A cheeseburger appeared out of nowhere in Seifer's hand.
"Screw that! Extra, extra, extra, extra, extra, extra, extra LARGE!"
Nothing happened.
"It didn't work?" Seifer asked Oren.
A cheeseburger the size of New Hampshire dropped directly on the two, burying them in ground beef and a pickle the size of Lancaster.
"Forget that!"
The burger disappeared.
"Quit playin' around!" Oren yelled, dusting off the meat from his sleeves.
"Stop bein' such a kid!"
Oren shrunk to the age of five years old, and his outfit was far too big, and he looked up at him in annoyance.
"Seifer . . . " he said in a cute little voice.
"Sorry"
Oren went back to normal and appeared a little bigger with facial hair and wrinkles near his eyes.
"Seifer, I think you messed up."
"What, aren't you forty-two?"
"I'm nineteen! Now change me back!"
He complied and started chuckling.
"That was fun."
"Sure, but while we're here nothing is being done, so why don't you just take us back?"
" . . . do you think that I can change small things?"
"In what?"
"In where we just came from"
"It couldn't hurt to try . . . "
"I want to disable that thing that Psi keeps doing."
"Judging by FT's current power, that will probably only work for a little while, so we'd better hurry"
Seifer nodded and imagined, and in a flash they were back to the moment they had left, Jessica still looking at him expectantly.
"Have you done anything yet?"
He noticed not a moment had passed.
"I hope this works."
Seifer dropped back and ran directly to Psi, and Oren followed him, the remaining looking back at them in a panic.
Psi's muscles pulsed as he tried to obliterate them, but nothing happened.
"Let's kick his ass!" Seifer took out Hyperion and lurched forward, but then Psi disappeared into a purple glow and went SEEMINGLY nowhere.
The small group of people stopped in their tracks, and Seifer stood completely still with his back to everyone else.
"Where did he go?" Jessica walked up behind him, and he didn't respond.
"Seifer?"
He twirled around, dropping his gunblade completely and grabbed her neck, making a loud crack, and then started increasing the pressure, immediately causing her face to flash red and then turn purple.
"What the hell?!" Oren materialized his blade and rushed over, but soon after Seifer dropped her and Jessica butted her head right into his stomach, and then they both lay still on the ground before getting back up.
"What just happened?" Oren and a few others that had walked up looked at the two bodies on the ground, before they both got up and started breathing heavily.
"Jessica, what was that? The last thing I remember you walk behind me and then I find you buried in my stomach!"
"I only remember you almost strangling me to death!" she looked at him vehemently and then broke into a fit of coughs.
"I would never hurt you."
Jessica stopped coughing and kicked Seifer's kneecap, and then Seifer grabbed her ponytail and yanked it, causing her to cry out.
"You did it again!" they both yelled.
"What in the world . . .?" Cloud didn't know whom to stop, as they were both going crazy.
Then, Squall tapped on his shoulder, he turned around, and a fist connected with his nose, after which he screamed and went to the ground yelling explicit curses.
Squall shook his head like he didn't know what was happening, and then Cloud bashed him into the ground, after which Oren literally kicked Cloud's ass, knocking him into the wall.
Oren looked disoriented, and then yelled a warning.
"It's one of Psi's powers! He's possessing us! He can only do one at a time!"
Everyone put away any weapon.
"Throwing your weapons somewhere might be a good idea . . . " Zidane suggested, after which they complied.
Oren looked left and right.
"Psi isn't in physical form, one of us is possessed, it could be any of us . . . "
"It's probably you, I can't believe you kicked me there!"
"At least it wasn't in the balls."
Zidane suddenly flew up and kicked at Tidus, and had his reflexes not assisted, he would have been kicked square in the groin, but was only caught at the side of the hip.
Squall was then possessed and dropped kicked Zidane, who was then possessed, grabbed Squall's nose, and then slammed the other hand down, making Squall grab his nose in agony.
"This has to stop!" he yelled, clutching his nose.
"I think you dislocated my hip!" Zidane rotated it in pain.
"I think YOU dislocated MY hip!" Tidus yelled over, rotating his own midsection.
Cloud grabbed Jessica by her neck, and stabbed her eye with a spike of his hair, and then Jessica grabbed Cloud, picked him clear above the ground, and slammed him down upon Seifer.
For about five minutes the group was possessed over and over, beating each other senseless, until finally Oren right-splits kicked Seifer just as he was possessed, and Psi was momentarily visible, then he disappeared.
"It could still be anyone . . . " Cloud panted, whose eyes were glowing purple . . .
"Cloud's possessed!" Squall warned, the jumped for Cloud, who was then tackled. Psi then possessed Oren, and everyone got off of Cloud. Oren was evidently possessed due to the purple glow.
"Hey! Cloud's still possessed!" Zidane yelled, pointing at Cloud's mako eyes.
"It's just an effect of the-" BOOM! Zidane tackled Cloud to the ground, and Oren told him to calm down.
"Oren's possessed! Look at that blue glow in the eyes!" yelled Zidane, about to tackle Oren.
"Cheese off, it's just-" BOOM! Oren was tackled into the ground.
"Hey! Jessica's hair is white! She's possessed!"
She growled at him, and just then everyone noticed Zidane's purple eyes, and proceeded to tackle the hell out of him, until Psi jumped into Seifer, and put a translucent purple barrier trapping him in a "compartment" with Jessica, shutting anyone else.
"Enough playing! I will kill you off one by one!"
Seifer temporarily regained control of his body.
"Fight me, Jessica, he wants to-" he lost control and "Psifer" began to corner her.
"I'll fight you if I must" she moved into fighting position.
"This body is stronger!" Psifer must have hit some Zatach pressure point, because after one blow she couldn't move, and Psifer began strangling her as quickly as he could, but it was taking some time.
Oren pounded his fist on the wall and started cursing, which wasn't helping, until finally he looked down and made a signal, and Jessica's air deprived face looked exasperated.
From her position on the ground, she crunched her foot into the rest of her body, and released it, burying it with staggering force into Psifer's groin.
For a few seconds, everything was absolutely silent, and then Psifer let out a bellowing scream that was heard on the far corners of the ship, released Jessica, and shrunk to his knees.
***
Allen continued to finish Fantasy Thunder, and heard a bellowing scream.
***
Nida sat in the piloting seat, and heard a bellowing scream.
***
On Gaia, a man was on his paper route around Alexandria Castle, and then heard a bellowing scream.
***
Psi burst out of Seifer, and both were on the ground in a fetal position, clutching their nuts, their faces red, the barrier disappearing. Every male's face in the vicinity twisted, as they could practically feel Seifer's pain, and Jessica looked down with a look of sorrow at Seifer.
"Y-you did what you had to do" muttered Seifer as he continued moaning and groaning. Jessica leaned down and massaged his back.
"I'm so sorry, my life was in danger. How long does this affect someone?" she looked at everyone else.
"Seifer and Psi will probably be in pain for a few hours . . . " Oren predicted, and then he pointed down the hallway.
"Fantasy Thunder is just that way. Lets go. Seifer, you rest a while." Oren beamed Psi in the head and knocked him out, and he still lay in the fetal position.
As the group made their way down to Fantasy Thunder, everyone walked a good distance from Jessica, and she looked to her right.
"Explanation?"
They were mostly silent.
"We're afraid you'll kick our crotches in" Zidane blabbed, causing Tidus to elbow him in ribs.
"How exactly do we plan on destroying Fantasy Thunder?" Oren wondered aloud.
Everyone paused to look at him.
"What?"
"We thought you knew" Squall said slowly.
He shrugged.
"I just heard about this like you all, I'm not some super expert. I know a few details from having-never mind."
"What is it you're hiding? You might as well tell us." Cloud said quickly and with the slightest bit of agitation as he started walking again.
"What I'm hiding is just a theory of what is inside, and it's too dangerous to let any of you in on it."
"Listen." Zidane snapped, halting them.
It wasn't easy for any of the non-Genomes (which would be everyone save Zidane) to hear, but soon it was clear. It was the sound of someone typing in the distance.
"Pick up the pace!" Oren commanded, breaking into a full-out sprint back to Fantasy Thunder.
In the distance, although absent before, Allen was sitting at a desk with his back to the group, typing away at a monitor.
"You're too late!" he yelled, without even turning to face them.
"Fantasy Thunder is fully operational . . . " His finger hovered over the enter key just as everyone made it to the back-center of the huge opening.
"Now!" he slammed his finger down on the key, and a computerized voice said:
"ACCESS DENIED"
"What the hell?"
Allen typed furiously, and pushed the enter key again.
"ACCESS DENIED"
"Aaaarrgggh!"
"ACCESS DENIED"
"This isn't right!"
"ACCESS DENIED"
Oren tapped his shoulder, and when he turned around, he pointed to his other shoulder, and when he looked at his other shoulder he was knocked out of the chair.
"Let's just take care of this . . . "
"No you oaf!"
"ACCESS GRANTED"
"Don't touch that monitor!"
Oren slammed his fist into the computer, pulled out random wires, and, needless to say, the computer performed a non-system shut down.
"You and your loser friends will regret this!" Allen yelled, screaming and pounding the ground in anger. He looked up at Oren and smiled.
"You, my little link, will be the downfall of everything."
He reached for him but made no attempt to actually grab, and a light flashed in the middle of Oren's chest.
"You only have twenty-three minutes, little boy!"
"What? Until I die?"
"Something much worse. Now just try and run!"
A rock flew from nowhere and hit Allen in the side of the head, and he fell to the floor.
"I was getting tired of hearing his voice." Seifer walked in Clint Eastwood- style, slinging his gunblade over his shoulder, and Jessica was relieved.
"I'm glad you're okay."
"Too bad I can't say the same for Psi, he's still convulsing. You kick hard woman!"
" . . . "
"Our job is done, lets get out of here!"
Oren was the first to turn and walk off, back to the direction of everyone else. Fantasy Thunder was no longer a problem.
***
Tifa was practically sweating blood, there was a good chance Cloud was dead by now, all worries relieved when she saw his spiky ass walking down the hallway.
"Cloud!" she tackled him to the ground, not caring weather or not she could or would avoid the deadly spikes on his head.
"I'm glad to see you, too" he said, shifting his weight as not to harm the small injury on his abdomen.
He stood up with her and grabbed her firmly but gently by the shoulders.
"I love you"
"What?"
"I'm sure you heard me."
"But I thought . . . ?"
The mix-up had never occurred to her, but whatever it had been, Cloud was alive, and nothing else mattered.
"Let's get out of here before any Allen's loyalists decide to show up" Oren said, arriving next out of the opening, and Barret was the first to stop him.
"The hell happened!?"
"Not important. We did what we came here to do, the world is at rest, mission accomplished, etc, lets go home, I'm sure you're as sick as I am of all this."
Yuna wrapped her arms around Tidus' neck as he sighed a content sigh.
"What happened?" she asked him.
"A long story. We won, which is all that matters."
Reunions relieved a situation that could have been bad, and the previously locked doors opened to the main exit. A few minutes later, anyone that had wandered off returned, and Quina woke up from a contented, drooly, and disgusting sleep.
Oren made sure to stay in the back.
"Many of us came close to death on this ridiculous escapade, and because of that enjoy your lives. Marry that special someone, start a family, make a bigger family, do what you've always wanted to do. Be happy to be alive, nobody wants to die."
Esthar Garden was in cheers, the exhausted officers at the command station could finally get some sleep as the ship prepared to autopilot back to the planet it came from.
Oren stood at the edge of the command center, staring out of the windows, something bothering him. He picked up the intercommunication speaker and announced with pride:
"We have fought a great battle, and won. Congratulations. But, much thanks goes to our pilot, Nida. Give him a good cheer." The place erupted.
Nida waved his hand as he pushed more buttons to initiate the autopilot.
Oren convulsed slightly and grabbed Nida around his throat; they were the only two on the ship.
"We can't leave just yet" he said.
Hapless Nida was thrown into the interior glass and landed outside of it on the metallic lining beyond the two exterior shells.
"Anyone that was with on that 'expedition' to Fantasy Thunder, present yourselves at the bridge. Come even if you WEREN'T there, this is something I want you all to see!"
It is interesting to note that exactly twenty-three minutes had passed since communications with Allen.
Squall was the first to arrive, and was panicked to see Nida lying motionless.
"What happened here?"
"The same thing that will happen to you!"
"Oren?"
Squall landed next to Nida meeting a similar fate, but was still moving slightly.
"What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?"
"You could say that"
Squall jerked in surprise, that wasn't Oren's voice at all.
Later the few others that had been present arrived in time to see an incapacitated Squall and Nida.
"What happened?" Seifer asked, rubbing his neck as he had always done when nervous.
"If anyone is ever going to beat up puberty-boy, it's going to be me, but I guess Nida beat me to it and it was a double knockout."
Tidus looked at him with skepticism.
"That's the most boneheaded conclusion I've ever heard."
Oren walked down the center until he was face to face with Jessica and stared her straight in the eye.
"This isn't over, sister."
Nothing in the universe was visible for a second, and then when sight returned Oren opened the airlock and flew into the main exit to the ship they had just returned from, and started running at an impossibly fast speed.
"You okay?" Seifer asked, putting a hand on Jessica's shoulder.
"No . . . " she fell to the ground, and blood started seeping out from under.
"Oren!? Where is that bastard!? What did he do!?"
Seifer was torn between the choices of helping the one he loved, or pursuing his new worst enemy.
He picked her up and charged through the back, others still frozen from shock. He noticed an incision right where her heart was, and his hopes fell, then he noticed there was no second incision.
"Two hearts" he said to himself.
He flew through the glass, over the balcony, and almost went through the wall to the infirmary and over the students, directly into the emergency room.
***
"Go after him!" Cloud yelled, going through the hole "Oren" had made.
"Why?" Squall asked, starting to chase him.
"He stabbed her! I don't think he's going to let us live if he can help it, and I have a feeling he can!"
"That wasn't Oren!" Zidane yelled, chasing the two of them down with Tidus.
"The voice was wrong, his eyes weren't glowing, that wasn't him!"
"It sure as hell looked like him!" Cloud yelled back as the four began running on the walls and then the ceiling to save time.
"I hope whoever that was didn't kill Jessica then, Seifer's gonna lose it!" Squall yelled back to Zidane as he jumped over the clearing in the large room where a previous fight had taken place.
"You guys hear that!" Zidane yelled. It took a while for the other to hear him, as they were approaching the sound barrier, moving at about 660 mph.
"I know that sound!" Squall yelled in response.
It was the familiar sound of an approaching sonic boom.
Within the second Seifer had passed them completely and had left the horrible rumble and destruction of the tiling lining the floor, exposing wires below.
"Speed up!" Squall suggested to the other three.
Their speed increased and as they crossed the sound barrier everything became completely silent, and they began to tear up the tiling and lining of the floor and ceiling, completely destroying the entire corridor as they blazed passed.
Moving so quickly, they eventually caught up to Seifer, and as the end of the corridor approached then they slowed down passed 750 mph and the loud sounds of their own sonic booms came rushing back into their ears, and quickly ceased completely.
The stop involved the five of them digging their heels into the tiling, tearing holes over six feet deep that they eventually had to jump out of.
"Oren" was standing at the corner that led to another corridor on the right, yawning.
"Catch me if you can"
He sped down the new corridor, and Seifer was the first to let out a loud growl and followed him.
***
Soon, Seifer and "Oren" were face to face running at a horribly fast rate down the miles of corridors.
"Don't you run away from me!"
"I'm not running." He grabbed Seifer and balanced him for a few seconds while still running on one foot, then launched him into the air, a very non- Oren type move.
Seifer rolled at hundreds of mph and jumped back up, chasing him with more determination than ever.
"Why'd you do that Oren?"
"You were getting on my nerves"
"I'm talking about HER you bastard!"
"Oh, her . . . I wanted everyone to see. Someone so full of strength fall easily by me."
"BUT WHY HER? Couldn't you have just stabbed me?"
"She's my sister, she gets special privileges."
"Omega was her brother!"
"Your point?"
"Oren" accelerated even further and almost literally made Seifer eat his dust, but Seifer pushed his body to the limit and accelerated to his maximum speed, 3903.34 mph, the water in his eyes flying out, his skin being peeled back, at speeds that a Zatach could barely withstand.
Soon, they both slowed down and stopped right in front of the same place where Oren had "shut down" Fantasy Thunder, and Allen was standing where his desk had been, laughing.
"Do you like my friend?" he asked, as "Oren" strode over.
"He was Omega this whole time, wasn't he?" Seifer asked, summoning every nerve ending in his body to produce sound from his exhausted lungs.
Allen made the universal "almost there" sign, and said:
"Close, but not quite."
"Oren" turned to Seifer.
"It will only be a few minutes, my power alone will give Fantasy Thunder enough power to wipe out anything in this universe that Allen and I don't see fit, and that would be most things!"
"What's going on? What are the two of you talking about?"
Cloud, Squall, Zidane, and Tidus arrived at just that moment, weapons drawn.
Allen shook his head in pity.
"Fantasy Thunder can still be used to some extent."
The normal topography disappeared and soon there was only nothingness, and then a black void, an indescribable void of blackness with a barely visible ground.
"What are you? Who is Allen?" Seifer asked, pointing directly at Allen..
"You want to know who I am? It's not who I am, its what I am. Omega, make sure Oren no longer interferes."
So it was clear that there were two different people.
"As you wish."
"You five just wait there. I'll deal with you soon enough."
He tossed "Oren" two swords and materialized one for himself.
The blackness lit up, and Oren's body convulsed as if two people were fighting over it, and then, split into two. Walking freely towards Allen's side was Omega himself, who looked strikingly like Oren but not at all at the same time. Long black hair falling on and behind his shoulders, Oren's outfit, and surprisingly bright eyes for a figure of his caliber, were his features. Then behind him, clutching his own throat, was the actual Oren, eyes wide and coughing violently as if the wind had been forced out from his lungs.
"You-you were alive the whole time!"
Oren was ignored.
"All this time I had been pursued and on the verge of death and you were alive!"
Nothing made sense anymore.
"Nothing makes sense anymore!" he yelled.
"Oren, just so you know, he stabbed Jessica, right in the heart." Seifer informed grimly.
The look on his face turned from confusion to surprise, to horror, then anger.
"Quiet! You're too weak to fight! You'll be dead soon enough."
"Omega . . . " Oren was ignored again.
Allen patted Omega's shoulder.
"Omega, let's--"
"Stop!" Oren yelled, this time getting everyone's attention.
He stood up, and his eyes glowed blue again.
"I may not have your power . . . "
Blue energy gathered in the palm of his right hand.
"But I still have my honor!"
He released the balled fist and flew the twelve feet remaining, connecting with the middle of Omega's face, and they both disappeared in a flash.
***
Omega and Oren rolled for a good twelve miles in a few seconds, and they both bolted upright.
"Punching me into another dimension, Oren. What a plan, but another dimension won't hold up long. You still aren't a match for me."
"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that . . . "
"I'm serious this time."
"Maybe so, but I believe it was me who punched you here."
" . . . Nothing personal, you know. But Fantasy Thunder must be used."
"What is possessing you to erase so much of this universe? What? Answer me!"
"Don't raise your voice, anger never got me anywhere."
Oren cracked his neck.
"Sure . . . "
He materialized the blue Altron blade.
"But unlike you . . . "
He did a warm up punch.
"I fight better when I'm mad."
The following events would have lasted hours, but due to Zatach speed, took up a total of 8.349 (rounded) seconds.
________________________________________________________________________
AN: The first part of the last three-part chapter. I know it's been almost a month since I updated, but now we're closer than ever to the end. (Tell your friends, recommend my fics, whatever, I need reviews)
[Part One]
By Blue Dragon
My strength and patience grow thin . . . it is time for my intervention
The two Pi's looked up, and around.
"We must return to the ship!" Pi number one yelled over the increasing noise.
"Why?" Oren yelled back.
"Getting too close to Fantasy Thunder may kill us!" number two responded as they both blasted upwards, somehow unaffected by the machines temporary limit on their power, and tore holes through the ceilings.
The antagonist was very close, a few meters now. Fantasy Thunder.
Jessica shoved Seifer slightly as he ran.
"What is it?"
"I am the only one here along with Oren that knows this, and he wouldn't be happy about this, but you can stimulate Fantasy Thunder with thoughts. Think of what you want to happen, and it will react!"
"Why hasn't Allen done that?"
She shrugged.
"Just try!"
Seifer concentrated on the first type of world that came to mind.
Of course he didn't expect it, but a sound like distant thunder echoed and then the picture swirled into nothingness, and then even more nothingness. It looked like Ultimecia's little world, just white and some invisible ground. Seifer found he was the only one there.
He looked around.
" . . . Oren?"
Oren appeared out of nowhere and landed flat on his face.
"What did you do?" he asked in a muffled voice, his face on the ground.
"I operated Fantasy Thunder."
He stood up and looked at Seifer sharply.
"Do you know the seriousness of that? We are now the only ones in existence, and our only option is to go back to the real world."
" . . . Now can I just picture a world where everything is solved?"
"FT would have to recreate the entire universe and every other universe, and it doesn't have that power yet, our only option is to return to the real world itself. You now have god-like power . . . "
"How about a cheeseburger?"
A cheeseburger appeared out of nowhere in Seifer's hand.
"Screw that! Extra, extra, extra, extra, extra, extra, extra LARGE!"
Nothing happened.
"It didn't work?" Seifer asked Oren.
A cheeseburger the size of New Hampshire dropped directly on the two, burying them in ground beef and a pickle the size of Lancaster.
"Forget that!"
The burger disappeared.
"Quit playin' around!" Oren yelled, dusting off the meat from his sleeves.
"Stop bein' such a kid!"
Oren shrunk to the age of five years old, and his outfit was far too big, and he looked up at him in annoyance.
"Seifer . . . " he said in a cute little voice.
"Sorry"
Oren went back to normal and appeared a little bigger with facial hair and wrinkles near his eyes.
"Seifer, I think you messed up."
"What, aren't you forty-two?"
"I'm nineteen! Now change me back!"
He complied and started chuckling.
"That was fun."
"Sure, but while we're here nothing is being done, so why don't you just take us back?"
" . . . do you think that I can change small things?"
"In what?"
"In where we just came from"
"It couldn't hurt to try . . . "
"I want to disable that thing that Psi keeps doing."
"Judging by FT's current power, that will probably only work for a little while, so we'd better hurry"
Seifer nodded and imagined, and in a flash they were back to the moment they had left, Jessica still looking at him expectantly.
"Have you done anything yet?"
He noticed not a moment had passed.
"I hope this works."
Seifer dropped back and ran directly to Psi, and Oren followed him, the remaining looking back at them in a panic.
Psi's muscles pulsed as he tried to obliterate them, but nothing happened.
"Let's kick his ass!" Seifer took out Hyperion and lurched forward, but then Psi disappeared into a purple glow and went SEEMINGLY nowhere.
The small group of people stopped in their tracks, and Seifer stood completely still with his back to everyone else.
"Where did he go?" Jessica walked up behind him, and he didn't respond.
"Seifer?"
He twirled around, dropping his gunblade completely and grabbed her neck, making a loud crack, and then started increasing the pressure, immediately causing her face to flash red and then turn purple.
"What the hell?!" Oren materialized his blade and rushed over, but soon after Seifer dropped her and Jessica butted her head right into his stomach, and then they both lay still on the ground before getting back up.
"What just happened?" Oren and a few others that had walked up looked at the two bodies on the ground, before they both got up and started breathing heavily.
"Jessica, what was that? The last thing I remember you walk behind me and then I find you buried in my stomach!"
"I only remember you almost strangling me to death!" she looked at him vehemently and then broke into a fit of coughs.
"I would never hurt you."
Jessica stopped coughing and kicked Seifer's kneecap, and then Seifer grabbed her ponytail and yanked it, causing her to cry out.
"You did it again!" they both yelled.
"What in the world . . .?" Cloud didn't know whom to stop, as they were both going crazy.
Then, Squall tapped on his shoulder, he turned around, and a fist connected with his nose, after which he screamed and went to the ground yelling explicit curses.
Squall shook his head like he didn't know what was happening, and then Cloud bashed him into the ground, after which Oren literally kicked Cloud's ass, knocking him into the wall.
Oren looked disoriented, and then yelled a warning.
"It's one of Psi's powers! He's possessing us! He can only do one at a time!"
Everyone put away any weapon.
"Throwing your weapons somewhere might be a good idea . . . " Zidane suggested, after which they complied.
Oren looked left and right.
"Psi isn't in physical form, one of us is possessed, it could be any of us . . . "
"It's probably you, I can't believe you kicked me there!"
"At least it wasn't in the balls."
Zidane suddenly flew up and kicked at Tidus, and had his reflexes not assisted, he would have been kicked square in the groin, but was only caught at the side of the hip.
Squall was then possessed and dropped kicked Zidane, who was then possessed, grabbed Squall's nose, and then slammed the other hand down, making Squall grab his nose in agony.
"This has to stop!" he yelled, clutching his nose.
"I think you dislocated my hip!" Zidane rotated it in pain.
"I think YOU dislocated MY hip!" Tidus yelled over, rotating his own midsection.
Cloud grabbed Jessica by her neck, and stabbed her eye with a spike of his hair, and then Jessica grabbed Cloud, picked him clear above the ground, and slammed him down upon Seifer.
For about five minutes the group was possessed over and over, beating each other senseless, until finally Oren right-splits kicked Seifer just as he was possessed, and Psi was momentarily visible, then he disappeared.
"It could still be anyone . . . " Cloud panted, whose eyes were glowing purple . . .
"Cloud's possessed!" Squall warned, the jumped for Cloud, who was then tackled. Psi then possessed Oren, and everyone got off of Cloud. Oren was evidently possessed due to the purple glow.
"Hey! Cloud's still possessed!" Zidane yelled, pointing at Cloud's mako eyes.
"It's just an effect of the-" BOOM! Zidane tackled Cloud to the ground, and Oren told him to calm down.
"Oren's possessed! Look at that blue glow in the eyes!" yelled Zidane, about to tackle Oren.
"Cheese off, it's just-" BOOM! Oren was tackled into the ground.
"Hey! Jessica's hair is white! She's possessed!"
She growled at him, and just then everyone noticed Zidane's purple eyes, and proceeded to tackle the hell out of him, until Psi jumped into Seifer, and put a translucent purple barrier trapping him in a "compartment" with Jessica, shutting anyone else.
"Enough playing! I will kill you off one by one!"
Seifer temporarily regained control of his body.
"Fight me, Jessica, he wants to-" he lost control and "Psifer" began to corner her.
"I'll fight you if I must" she moved into fighting position.
"This body is stronger!" Psifer must have hit some Zatach pressure point, because after one blow she couldn't move, and Psifer began strangling her as quickly as he could, but it was taking some time.
Oren pounded his fist on the wall and started cursing, which wasn't helping, until finally he looked down and made a signal, and Jessica's air deprived face looked exasperated.
From her position on the ground, she crunched her foot into the rest of her body, and released it, burying it with staggering force into Psifer's groin.
For a few seconds, everything was absolutely silent, and then Psifer let out a bellowing scream that was heard on the far corners of the ship, released Jessica, and shrunk to his knees.
***
Allen continued to finish Fantasy Thunder, and heard a bellowing scream.
***
Nida sat in the piloting seat, and heard a bellowing scream.
***
On Gaia, a man was on his paper route around Alexandria Castle, and then heard a bellowing scream.
***
Psi burst out of Seifer, and both were on the ground in a fetal position, clutching their nuts, their faces red, the barrier disappearing. Every male's face in the vicinity twisted, as they could practically feel Seifer's pain, and Jessica looked down with a look of sorrow at Seifer.
"Y-you did what you had to do" muttered Seifer as he continued moaning and groaning. Jessica leaned down and massaged his back.
"I'm so sorry, my life was in danger. How long does this affect someone?" she looked at everyone else.
"Seifer and Psi will probably be in pain for a few hours . . . " Oren predicted, and then he pointed down the hallway.
"Fantasy Thunder is just that way. Lets go. Seifer, you rest a while." Oren beamed Psi in the head and knocked him out, and he still lay in the fetal position.
As the group made their way down to Fantasy Thunder, everyone walked a good distance from Jessica, and she looked to her right.
"Explanation?"
They were mostly silent.
"We're afraid you'll kick our crotches in" Zidane blabbed, causing Tidus to elbow him in ribs.
"How exactly do we plan on destroying Fantasy Thunder?" Oren wondered aloud.
Everyone paused to look at him.
"What?"
"We thought you knew" Squall said slowly.
He shrugged.
"I just heard about this like you all, I'm not some super expert. I know a few details from having-never mind."
"What is it you're hiding? You might as well tell us." Cloud said quickly and with the slightest bit of agitation as he started walking again.
"What I'm hiding is just a theory of what is inside, and it's too dangerous to let any of you in on it."
"Listen." Zidane snapped, halting them.
It wasn't easy for any of the non-Genomes (which would be everyone save Zidane) to hear, but soon it was clear. It was the sound of someone typing in the distance.
"Pick up the pace!" Oren commanded, breaking into a full-out sprint back to Fantasy Thunder.
In the distance, although absent before, Allen was sitting at a desk with his back to the group, typing away at a monitor.
"You're too late!" he yelled, without even turning to face them.
"Fantasy Thunder is fully operational . . . " His finger hovered over the enter key just as everyone made it to the back-center of the huge opening.
"Now!" he slammed his finger down on the key, and a computerized voice said:
"ACCESS DENIED"
"What the hell?"
Allen typed furiously, and pushed the enter key again.
"ACCESS DENIED"
"Aaaarrgggh!"
"ACCESS DENIED"
"This isn't right!"
"ACCESS DENIED"
Oren tapped his shoulder, and when he turned around, he pointed to his other shoulder, and when he looked at his other shoulder he was knocked out of the chair.
"Let's just take care of this . . . "
"No you oaf!"
"ACCESS GRANTED"
"Don't touch that monitor!"
Oren slammed his fist into the computer, pulled out random wires, and, needless to say, the computer performed a non-system shut down.
"You and your loser friends will regret this!" Allen yelled, screaming and pounding the ground in anger. He looked up at Oren and smiled.
"You, my little link, will be the downfall of everything."
He reached for him but made no attempt to actually grab, and a light flashed in the middle of Oren's chest.
"You only have twenty-three minutes, little boy!"
"What? Until I die?"
"Something much worse. Now just try and run!"
A rock flew from nowhere and hit Allen in the side of the head, and he fell to the floor.
"I was getting tired of hearing his voice." Seifer walked in Clint Eastwood- style, slinging his gunblade over his shoulder, and Jessica was relieved.
"I'm glad you're okay."
"Too bad I can't say the same for Psi, he's still convulsing. You kick hard woman!"
" . . . "
"Our job is done, lets get out of here!"
Oren was the first to turn and walk off, back to the direction of everyone else. Fantasy Thunder was no longer a problem.
***
Tifa was practically sweating blood, there was a good chance Cloud was dead by now, all worries relieved when she saw his spiky ass walking down the hallway.
"Cloud!" she tackled him to the ground, not caring weather or not she could or would avoid the deadly spikes on his head.
"I'm glad to see you, too" he said, shifting his weight as not to harm the small injury on his abdomen.
He stood up with her and grabbed her firmly but gently by the shoulders.
"I love you"
"What?"
"I'm sure you heard me."
"But I thought . . . ?"
The mix-up had never occurred to her, but whatever it had been, Cloud was alive, and nothing else mattered.
"Let's get out of here before any Allen's loyalists decide to show up" Oren said, arriving next out of the opening, and Barret was the first to stop him.
"The hell happened!?"
"Not important. We did what we came here to do, the world is at rest, mission accomplished, etc, lets go home, I'm sure you're as sick as I am of all this."
Yuna wrapped her arms around Tidus' neck as he sighed a content sigh.
"What happened?" she asked him.
"A long story. We won, which is all that matters."
Reunions relieved a situation that could have been bad, and the previously locked doors opened to the main exit. A few minutes later, anyone that had wandered off returned, and Quina woke up from a contented, drooly, and disgusting sleep.
Oren made sure to stay in the back.
"Many of us came close to death on this ridiculous escapade, and because of that enjoy your lives. Marry that special someone, start a family, make a bigger family, do what you've always wanted to do. Be happy to be alive, nobody wants to die."
Esthar Garden was in cheers, the exhausted officers at the command station could finally get some sleep as the ship prepared to autopilot back to the planet it came from.
Oren stood at the edge of the command center, staring out of the windows, something bothering him. He picked up the intercommunication speaker and announced with pride:
"We have fought a great battle, and won. Congratulations. But, much thanks goes to our pilot, Nida. Give him a good cheer." The place erupted.
Nida waved his hand as he pushed more buttons to initiate the autopilot.
Oren convulsed slightly and grabbed Nida around his throat; they were the only two on the ship.
"We can't leave just yet" he said.
Hapless Nida was thrown into the interior glass and landed outside of it on the metallic lining beyond the two exterior shells.
"Anyone that was with on that 'expedition' to Fantasy Thunder, present yourselves at the bridge. Come even if you WEREN'T there, this is something I want you all to see!"
It is interesting to note that exactly twenty-three minutes had passed since communications with Allen.
Squall was the first to arrive, and was panicked to see Nida lying motionless.
"What happened here?"
"The same thing that will happen to you!"
"Oren?"
Squall landed next to Nida meeting a similar fate, but was still moving slightly.
"What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?"
"You could say that"
Squall jerked in surprise, that wasn't Oren's voice at all.
Later the few others that had been present arrived in time to see an incapacitated Squall and Nida.
"What happened?" Seifer asked, rubbing his neck as he had always done when nervous.
"If anyone is ever going to beat up puberty-boy, it's going to be me, but I guess Nida beat me to it and it was a double knockout."
Tidus looked at him with skepticism.
"That's the most boneheaded conclusion I've ever heard."
Oren walked down the center until he was face to face with Jessica and stared her straight in the eye.
"This isn't over, sister."
Nothing in the universe was visible for a second, and then when sight returned Oren opened the airlock and flew into the main exit to the ship they had just returned from, and started running at an impossibly fast speed.
"You okay?" Seifer asked, putting a hand on Jessica's shoulder.
"No . . . " she fell to the ground, and blood started seeping out from under.
"Oren!? Where is that bastard!? What did he do!?"
Seifer was torn between the choices of helping the one he loved, or pursuing his new worst enemy.
He picked her up and charged through the back, others still frozen from shock. He noticed an incision right where her heart was, and his hopes fell, then he noticed there was no second incision.
"Two hearts" he said to himself.
He flew through the glass, over the balcony, and almost went through the wall to the infirmary and over the students, directly into the emergency room.
***
"Go after him!" Cloud yelled, going through the hole "Oren" had made.
"Why?" Squall asked, starting to chase him.
"He stabbed her! I don't think he's going to let us live if he can help it, and I have a feeling he can!"
"That wasn't Oren!" Zidane yelled, chasing the two of them down with Tidus.
"The voice was wrong, his eyes weren't glowing, that wasn't him!"
"It sure as hell looked like him!" Cloud yelled back as the four began running on the walls and then the ceiling to save time.
"I hope whoever that was didn't kill Jessica then, Seifer's gonna lose it!" Squall yelled back to Zidane as he jumped over the clearing in the large room where a previous fight had taken place.
"You guys hear that!" Zidane yelled. It took a while for the other to hear him, as they were approaching the sound barrier, moving at about 660 mph.
"I know that sound!" Squall yelled in response.
It was the familiar sound of an approaching sonic boom.
Within the second Seifer had passed them completely and had left the horrible rumble and destruction of the tiling lining the floor, exposing wires below.
"Speed up!" Squall suggested to the other three.
Their speed increased and as they crossed the sound barrier everything became completely silent, and they began to tear up the tiling and lining of the floor and ceiling, completely destroying the entire corridor as they blazed passed.
Moving so quickly, they eventually caught up to Seifer, and as the end of the corridor approached then they slowed down passed 750 mph and the loud sounds of their own sonic booms came rushing back into their ears, and quickly ceased completely.
The stop involved the five of them digging their heels into the tiling, tearing holes over six feet deep that they eventually had to jump out of.
"Oren" was standing at the corner that led to another corridor on the right, yawning.
"Catch me if you can"
He sped down the new corridor, and Seifer was the first to let out a loud growl and followed him.
***
Soon, Seifer and "Oren" were face to face running at a horribly fast rate down the miles of corridors.
"Don't you run away from me!"
"I'm not running." He grabbed Seifer and balanced him for a few seconds while still running on one foot, then launched him into the air, a very non- Oren type move.
Seifer rolled at hundreds of mph and jumped back up, chasing him with more determination than ever.
"Why'd you do that Oren?"
"You were getting on my nerves"
"I'm talking about HER you bastard!"
"Oh, her . . . I wanted everyone to see. Someone so full of strength fall easily by me."
"BUT WHY HER? Couldn't you have just stabbed me?"
"She's my sister, she gets special privileges."
"Omega was her brother!"
"Your point?"
"Oren" accelerated even further and almost literally made Seifer eat his dust, but Seifer pushed his body to the limit and accelerated to his maximum speed, 3903.34 mph, the water in his eyes flying out, his skin being peeled back, at speeds that a Zatach could barely withstand.
Soon, they both slowed down and stopped right in front of the same place where Oren had "shut down" Fantasy Thunder, and Allen was standing where his desk had been, laughing.
"Do you like my friend?" he asked, as "Oren" strode over.
"He was Omega this whole time, wasn't he?" Seifer asked, summoning every nerve ending in his body to produce sound from his exhausted lungs.
Allen made the universal "almost there" sign, and said:
"Close, but not quite."
"Oren" turned to Seifer.
"It will only be a few minutes, my power alone will give Fantasy Thunder enough power to wipe out anything in this universe that Allen and I don't see fit, and that would be most things!"
"What's going on? What are the two of you talking about?"
Cloud, Squall, Zidane, and Tidus arrived at just that moment, weapons drawn.
Allen shook his head in pity.
"Fantasy Thunder can still be used to some extent."
The normal topography disappeared and soon there was only nothingness, and then a black void, an indescribable void of blackness with a barely visible ground.
"What are you? Who is Allen?" Seifer asked, pointing directly at Allen..
"You want to know who I am? It's not who I am, its what I am. Omega, make sure Oren no longer interferes."
So it was clear that there were two different people.
"As you wish."
"You five just wait there. I'll deal with you soon enough."
He tossed "Oren" two swords and materialized one for himself.
The blackness lit up, and Oren's body convulsed as if two people were fighting over it, and then, split into two. Walking freely towards Allen's side was Omega himself, who looked strikingly like Oren but not at all at the same time. Long black hair falling on and behind his shoulders, Oren's outfit, and surprisingly bright eyes for a figure of his caliber, were his features. Then behind him, clutching his own throat, was the actual Oren, eyes wide and coughing violently as if the wind had been forced out from his lungs.
"You-you were alive the whole time!"
Oren was ignored.
"All this time I had been pursued and on the verge of death and you were alive!"
Nothing made sense anymore.
"Nothing makes sense anymore!" he yelled.
"Oren, just so you know, he stabbed Jessica, right in the heart." Seifer informed grimly.
The look on his face turned from confusion to surprise, to horror, then anger.
"Quiet! You're too weak to fight! You'll be dead soon enough."
"Omega . . . " Oren was ignored again.
Allen patted Omega's shoulder.
"Omega, let's--"
"Stop!" Oren yelled, this time getting everyone's attention.
He stood up, and his eyes glowed blue again.
"I may not have your power . . . "
Blue energy gathered in the palm of his right hand.
"But I still have my honor!"
He released the balled fist and flew the twelve feet remaining, connecting with the middle of Omega's face, and they both disappeared in a flash.
***
Omega and Oren rolled for a good twelve miles in a few seconds, and they both bolted upright.
"Punching me into another dimension, Oren. What a plan, but another dimension won't hold up long. You still aren't a match for me."
"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that . . . "
"I'm serious this time."
"Maybe so, but I believe it was me who punched you here."
" . . . Nothing personal, you know. But Fantasy Thunder must be used."
"What is possessing you to erase so much of this universe? What? Answer me!"
"Don't raise your voice, anger never got me anywhere."
Oren cracked his neck.
"Sure . . . "
He materialized the blue Altron blade.
"But unlike you . . . "
He did a warm up punch.
"I fight better when I'm mad."
The following events would have lasted hours, but due to Zatach speed, took up a total of 8.349 (rounded) seconds.
________________________________________________________________________
AN: The first part of the last three-part chapter. I know it's been almost a month since I updated, but now we're closer than ever to the end. (Tell your friends, recommend my fics, whatever, I need reviews)