"I know that armor," Kenya came limping up, "Hojo was looking for it. It's a special armor crafted by the gods for the one who was to fight BahamutZERO in their place."
"Die, traitor!" Damien suddenly yelled. Kenya was encircled by purple flashes of light. He howled in pain as they wrapped about his low figure, tearing at his fur and flesh beneath it. Red XIII tackled the blond copy. They hit the ground and rolled, Cloud jumping as gouges appeared on his face and arms.

"Stop it, Red!" Cid struggled to his feet. "You're hurtin' the Kid!"
Red XIII roared in anger, throwing Damien away and racing back over to the others.
"Are you alright?" he eyed Cloud. The boy nodded and the creature returned the gesture, then went to help his clone to his feet. Kenya stood, leaning heavily to one side and shaking his angular head.
"I don't know what we can do about this...he's more powerful than I imagined."
"We're not going to sit around and wait to die, are we!" Cid yelped, then cried out as something whizzed past his head. Cloud winced and looked up at Damien to see a blue spike of ice protruding from his clone's arm. The icicle glinted and exploded into a burst of fire. Damien snarled as a hole opened up in his shoulder. Cloud grabbed his own shoulder with one hand, feeling the blood begin to trickle out from under the armor. A golden sphere suddenly darted around him and circled the other boy's profile. Golden bands of light wrapped around him as the ball shot high into the air. Cloud gasped and fell to one knee, his life quickly being drained out of him.
"Stop...!" he choked. "I'll be killed..."
"You 'aint gonna die!" Barret Wallace grunted, standing beside him.
"Barret! Guys!" Cid turned to look upon their friends. Yuffie Kisaragi caught the golden orb as it returned to her, making the huge claws pop out from the knuckles of her black gloves.
"Sorry, didn't mean to hurt ya!"
"Looks like the fight hasn't even begun," Vincent Valentine crossed his arms over his chest.
"Aw, come on now, Cloud," Cait Sith blinked. "We were expecting something to have happened already!"
"Something will happen right now!" Damien screamed. They all turned back to face him; purple and red power swirled around him, darkening the sky and stunning the fighters.
"Ah &#!" Barret exclaimed.
"Wrong time to show up!" the black cat wailed. Cloud forced himself to his feet and stepped forward, holding up the Ultimate Sacrifice again. Tongues of the red and purple energy lunged at them and with three hard swings of his golden blade, they diminished.
"I said: I won't allow you to kill anymore of my friends!" he growled.
"I don't care what you say!" Damien spat. More of the energy raced toward them. Cloud swung it again, and again the attacks fell harmlessly to the side. The two blonds stood face to face, panting slightly. One looked like a golden warrior with his incredible armor and extravagant blade. The other was the living definition of evil–eyes narrowed to slits, hair flying in the wake of an incredible power that surrounded him.
The others watched in awe-filled silence. Yuffie was, of course, the one to break it:
"What's going to happen now?"
"They're going to fight," Vincent replied softly.
"We have to fight with him!" Nanaki snorted, clawing at the ground impatiently.
"Nah, not now," Barret spoke quietly. "This one's all his."
"Grr!" Yuffie clenched her fists, biting her lip to keep from saying anything else. Vincent put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head slightly. They watched.
Cloud Strife felt something hit him. Not physically, but like a mental bomb which went off in his head. His eyes unfocused and then started shining bright red. Invisible winds rose about him, and they all slowly began to hear screams. Not from the planet, but different screams–animal-like screams...
Choco/Mog came first.
Everyone except Cloud looked around to see the large yellow bird racing toward the field. There was a moggle with a bandana tied around his forehead riding atop its back. The two darted forward and crashed headlong into Damien, who doubled over. The moggle lay on the floor at his feet looking dizzy, but the chocobo came back just as quickly and yanked him away.
Everyone blinked.
"What was–!" Damien started.
The air turned cold.
A beautiful woman with pale skin and a revealing blue outfit descended from the sky, raising her right arm. A glittering point of white light came from her hand and she thrust it down at them, making huge crystalized ice spikes jut out from the ground and strike Damien. He took a step back in shock as she disappeared.
Another followed right after her.
The ground before them exploded and a brown and red creature with gnarled horns burst from the floor and roared. Fire licked out from between its fangs as it drew itself back. With another roar it dove at them, setting the entire battlefield ablaze with heat and flames.

A pillar of earth rose from the charred ground. Out from its top came a man in white and gold robes with a long grey beard. In his wrinkled hands was a green-handled scepter. He raised it to the sky and lightning parted through the clouds above their heads, striking the dirt wildly. Energy crackled along the ground and lit the area for miles.
A huge cyclops-like beast appeared, teeth gnashed and growling angrily. It reached down to the earth and dug its thick fingers into the crusted surface. With a roar, it pulled the slab of rock from the ground and threw it at the clone.
A tall, dark warrior on a six-legged stallion appeared before them from a black hole which had opened on the battlefield. In one hand he held a glowing lance. He reared his horse and sent the weapon up into the sky. It abruptly parted the dark clouds above their heads, showing a clear deep night with hundreds of stars. Then it came down on Damien with a mighty crash.
A bull roared and charged into the area. Flares of red energy exploded. Blue energy spikes shot down and joined together to create a yellow light as the ground shook. This changed to gold sparks, white diamond stars, and orange streaks of energy. Then it reared up on its hind legs and slammed its hooves into the ground, making it tremble violently.
A great black dragon with a tan underside lowered itself from the heavens, shrieking. A huge ball of light gathered between its jaws and it shot a power beam down from the sky, striking the earth.
The ground around them crumbled away and a black mech-like structure rose from the depths of the shadows. Its eyes shone a fierce yellow, and it lay its huge arms on either side of the arena. A red line traced out the symbol of 'holy', then everything erupted with one blinding flare.
The piece of earth Damien stood on broke away from the ground and rose above the black clouds. There, a four-winged red dragon sat in wait. Shrieking, it drew its narrow head back to gather yellow and orange power. It shot out in one huge beam, shattering the piece of rock and sending Damien crashing back to the ground.
A ball of bluish energy appeared and grew larger and larger until it exploded. A blue-gray serpent took its place, curled in attacking fashion. It let out a supersonic shriek which echoed through the blackness. A huge tidal wave rose from behind it, and the serpent disappeared just as the wave swept across the battlefield.
Four giant grey pillars shot up from the dirt. A stone platform materialized within their posts, and a hooded skeleton with a huge black cauldron appeared. He chanted incoherently above the boiling vat, green liquid spewing from it and sending an unsettling smog across the field.
Everything fell away until they were floating in a stormy oblivion. A two-sided monster appeared. The narrow head snorted, sending up a fierce whirlwind. It turned to let the round face have its try. It took a deep breath and shrieked, making everything explode.
The air shone blue. One by one, knights in medieval armor dropped from the sky and stuck Damien with twelve attacks–half physical, half magical. One knight rose above the rest, wearing a red cloak and donning a huge long sword. He raised the blade and gave a mighty swing, making everything disappear into a white oblivion.
Cloud Strife held up his sword and waited. He knew–one, from the feeling in his subconscious; two, he wasn't hurt in any way–that Damien hadn't been affected by that wave of assaults. But two had ultimately been missing; where had the Phoenix and BahamutZERO summons gone?
The others ran over to him, cheering and reaching over to pat him on the back. Loud laughter made them all stop in their tracks. Their eyes turned to the blackened earth which expanded before them and they saw a silhouette advancing through the dust of the explosions. The laughter rang through the silence of the night, making their blood run cold. Cloud stepped away from his friends and crouched.
"This is far from over. I want all of you to get out of here, now."
"What!" Cid and Yuffie gaped at him.
"No way!" Barret cried.
The clone laughed: "Stupid humans!"
"Cloud, I think we have to–" Vincent tried.
"No; get out of here now," Cloud growled.
"But you'll be killed!" Cait Sith wailed.
"Cloud!" Red XIII snarled.
"You'll all perish, one by one, you fools!" Damien continued advancing.
"Get out of here right now or I'll kill you myself!" the mercenary screamed. The seven looked at him in stunned silence. Yuffie opened her mouth to speak but Vincent turned his back to the others and began to walk away from the battlefield.

"Vincent! Where are you going!" Red howled. "Aren't you going to try and help!"
"Try, is the operative word," Kenya lowered his head and began to follow after the cape-wearing man. "We would only get in Cloud's way."
"But we can't just leave him to fight all alone!" Yuffie argued, stomping her foot.
"He's not going to be alone as long as I'm here!"