"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!"
