note: thx for the reviews. especially Crescent-Wish-Forever. I take this as a turn to answer some reviews, first; it is RedXIII (my mistake.) not RedXI, second; Vince IS 27, not 50, I checked the book and the original website. :P. thx.
The shadow of the Zolom, Guardian of the swamp, covered the whole group. Cloud could feel the ground shudder as it hissed, venom tossed around as the tongue of the creature vibrated.
Cloud's grip tightened around the handle of the ultimate weapon, glancing at everyone else to see if they were prepared, noticing Tifa still kneeling down, staring at the reptile.
"Tifa! GET UP!" Cloud shouted to her, catching her attention, and that of the snake. The sound startled the Zolom, its head shooting down at him
Cloud heard the snake's reaction to him, glancing over and lifting his sword in defensive position. The collision of the snakes head at his sword pushed his feet into the ground, the smell of dead flesh propelled at his face made him sick.
The force the snake was applying on his blade was extreme; he could barely hold the snakes head away. He moved his sword swiftly to the side and jumped the opposite direction, jerking its head away from him.
Cloud hadn't expected the snake to be that strong, he fought it before and it was nowhere near that strong. It was definitely not level 46 anymore.
Cloud could see where the bullets from Barret's and Vincent's gun hit the beast, barely fazing it. The Colossal structure had nothing to fear from them and the sword of the ultimate weapon didn't even scratch it.
Its head flashed upon Cloud again, catching him by surprise. He swung the blade at the side of its head as he barely stepped out of its path, finding it to just bounce of the scales. Cloud knew that the scales would be a bonus to the creatures strength, but he never would have guessed that they would bounce the ultimate weapon of them without even damaging it.
Cloud seen the eyes of the creature as it scanned the movement of everyone in the group. He knew that their were only 2 places were he could get full effect from the attack.
"Aim for its eyes!" he shouted, as the creature lunged at Tifa. Cloud knew that the timing had to be right, he dived at the creature, turning his blade to stab down on its eye. Cloud hadn't expected the tail of the Zolom to swing round and collide with him, he barely had anytime to block the attack.
Cloud was flung across the plain. Tifa just missed the attack, without time to counter. The Zolom withdrew its head and lunged it again at Vincent.
The creature's jaw slammed on top of Vincent, he had no time to get away and no way to defend the attack. Vincent was lost in the mouth of the demon.
"Vince!" Yuffie shouted out, dashing at the creature, tears in her eyes. She pounced at the creature, crashing her conformer down on the creatures eye, causing it to pull its head up.
Yuffie dropped of the beast and landed beside Tifa. Cloud could see from were he stood that she was fumbling in her pocket, taking out an Ultima materia. He could see Tifa stopping her from using it as he ran up to them,
"Don't us that, you'll hurt Vincent as well." Cloud said running up to them,
"But, but." She mumbled, she couldn't think straight.
Cloud looked back at the creature as it stood above them, its head shaking vigorously side to side.
"What the hell is it doing" Cid called, Venus gospel in hand.
"I don't know, but it doesn't seem to like it." Cloud called over.
A thump was coming from the creature; it stopped shaking its head. Suddenly its head dropped, crashing down onto the field beside Barret.
"Holy shit" Barret shouted as he moved back from the beast. The thud got louder as the monsters head bobbed up and down, Cloud and everyone was already close to it.
A scale of the creature's skull abruptly shattered. A claw and hairy hand came through the hole, followed by another, the hands ripping the Zolom's head in half. Out of the carcass came a demon, wings protruding from its back, casting a glance that would shatter your soul. Everyone immediately recognized it as Chaos.
"Vince!" Yuffie shouted as the fiend's shape slowly morphed back to their friend.
Vincent looked at everyone, one eye shut, and collapsed on his knees then falling on his face. Yuffie knelt down beside him and pulled his head up onto her, letting him rest. "Its Ok Vincy, we're here. Rest", smiling down at him. Everyone knew that it drained Vincent to sustain that immortal being. They decided to set up camp there.
"Anyone hungry?" RedXIII called out, bits of Zolom flesh hanging from his mouth. "It's really not that bad"
"We'll pass this time Red." Cloud said as he helped Vincent into a tent set up by Barret and Cid.
"Why was the Midgar Zolom there anyway." Tifa said to Cloud as he emerged from the tent, "I thought all the monsters left after holy collided with meteor."
"I don't know, maybe it also had to do with the weather. When there was evil roaming the world the monsters had arrived, causing evil to spread across the continents. Maybe there's a new evil in the world, causing the monsters to reappear, a stronger evil. My blade could not damage the scales of the Zolom." He replied, glancing down at his weapon, this was the ultimate weapon, how could such a foe be immune to it. It was forged by the stars itself.
"Tomorrow we'll start across the swamp, jus' rest for now."
Cloud stood outside the camp, waiting for everyone to go asleep, then, scanning the horizon he felt safe to sleep. He climbed inside his tent with Barret and Tifa after adding more logs to the fire. He crawled into his sleeping bag and lay there a moment then blew out the candle.