The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 9

Reno walked back to Rude, he had just checked up the stairs to the next level they were on the 60th floor and had stopped to get their breath as the elevators were useless without power they had had to run up the emergency stairs and fight their way up. The monsters that they had come up against were also getting stronger as they went up through each level.

"Bad?" Rude asked bluntly "Probably worse. It seems that they are, as well as stronger, getting more intelligent, they're concentrated around the stairs, this time." Rude grunted "No other way around?" "Let me think for a minute." Reno sat down and thought 'Everything has a weakness, what's theirs?' Then it came to him 'The monsters I saw, they were big. Too big!' Reno smiled broadly.
Rude noticed "Got something?" "Nope! Don't need it." Rude frowned and Reno explained "The monsters I saw were too big to move properly in the stairwell. All we have to do is run past and they won't be able to give chase." "But what about the next floor? Won't there be more monsters there to slow us down?" "One problem at a time, Rude."

In fact, it wasn't a problem at all. As the next floor was completely clear. They continued on, expecting an ambush, up the stairs. But none came.

………

The doctor of Mideel was dealing with a minor injury, someone had fell from a tree while gathering fruit for his family. It was a quiet time for him 'But, of course,' He thought 'When I have no work, it is a good thing.'

Out the corner of his eye, he saw a small shimmer. He turned to see it better, but what he saw instead was actually a young woman.

"Where is he!" She said "He moves quicker than the wind sometimes."

Overcoming his surprise, he asked "May I help you?"

The girl turned and as she did there was a little shimmer in her form, as if she was only a reflection on the water.

"Maybe, has a man called Cloud Strife been here recently?" "Don't recognise the name; but then, I've never been good with them. What does he look like?" "Well, I guess his most obvious feature is his spiky yellow hair." "Ahh, him; the guy with the big sword." "Yeah, that's him." She said enthusiastically.
"Not recently." The doctor said, seeing the girls face drop, he added "I remember him saying something about going to Nibelheim about 2 weeks back. He may be there." "Thank you, sir." She said. She then shimmered more and disappeared.
"Interesting." The doctor said simply and turned to find the medicine he was looking for.

………

They got to the Office with no additional trouble. As they made their way up the steps to the top office, they heard the sound of voices and quietly stopped and looked over the remaining steps.

Behind the desk with their backs to them were two people. One was a strange man, with a kind of metallic skin, it shone with the setting sun that blared through the windows into the room. The other had a sort of familiar figure, his hair was spike and jet black. In his hand was an even more familiar sword. It was huge, sharp and looked as mean as it had when Reno had first saw one.

A computer bleeped in front of them, which was strange as the power was down.

The man with black hair spoke "'bout time. What took it so long? We're only looking for one piece of materia!" The other man answered calmly "Too much information to search, we were only looking for a single thing with limited information about it in the largest database on this world." He spoke with a monotone voice which chilled Reno to the spine.
"Well, what does it say?" "Only an old riddle that nobody has bothered to follow up on." "A riddle? What good is that? Blasted thing!" He raised the overly-large sword to strike the computer. He brought the sword down but the other man's arm flashed out and the sword simply bounced off the metallic-looking skin. Off-balance the black-haired man fell back.
"Calm down, Zack." The monotone voice grated "Riddles are usually written by the ancients and are excellent clues to hidden treasures.
"Sheesh! Okay." Zack said staying on the floor "What does it say then, Omega." "Surprisingly, this was one of the easier riddles to translate. A lot of it has been done. It reads 'The clearest of all spirit energy rests within the crater guarded by the ancient knights of yore. This clear sphere has the power to either save or destroy, but heed this warning, its will can only be called once before it's colour will change forever and it can only be used by someone with a true cause'"

There was a silence.

"Arghh! What the hell does that mean? I didn't understand a word!" Zack got up and looked directly at Omega.
"It means we need to go find the crater in the riddle." "Damn it, Omega! Do you know how many craters there are on this world!" "Only one that is useful to us, and matches this riddle." Zack scratched his head "You lost me."

Omega stood up but did not turn. Zack looked at him "What's wrong Omega? You're not worried about them two intruders are you?" It seemed like Zack was taunting Omega.

Omega turned to Zack and smiled with a strange intent. He then said something but Reno was not listening "Damn!" He muttered under his breath "They know we're here."

Suddenly behind him a monster appeared out of nowhere. Before Reno was able to defend himself, the monster attacked. Then, Rude was there and with an amazing punch, sent the monster flying.

"Thanks, Rude." Reno said gratefully Rude nodded "Why don't we finish off then." Reno said tilting his head toward the two people.
Again Rude nodded and the two walked at a deliberate pace to Zack and Omega.

………

The old reactor in the Nibelheim mountains was in the process of being dismantled. It was last of the reactors to be removed. Soon the workers would begin to turn their attentions to the work of completing the building of a number of new towns around the world so that people could leave the barren land around Midgar and start their lives in lush, green fields and new houses.

The construction workers were all having a break, except one. He was still working on the bridge to the main control room of the reactor, he never took breaks as he believed that breaks only make the work take longer.

He was working on the main valve to make sure that the reactor remained off during the work. Otherwise the whole thing could blow up.

He turned to start on another valve, but stopped suddenly. A young woman appeared from nowhere. The worker was too shocked to speak.

The woman looked around, but didn't say anything. She then shimmered and vanished.

The worker finally found his voice and ran screaming from the reactor. Outside he was stopped by his fellow workers. As of that day. The worker took regular breaks and didn't even attempt to explain what he saw, as no-one would ever believe him.

………

Reno and Rude were in trouble, nothing they tried against the being called Omega had any effect. Physical attacks bounced off its metallic skin and magic attacks were absorbed.

Omega had told Zack to stay out of this fight, so he had taken a seat and watched the fight with a keen interest.

Reno was worried, if the two of them couldn't damage Omega, how would they win. Better yet, how would they survive. Reno decided that they had to do a make or break manoeuvre. He signalled to Rude and he nodded. They came together and faced Omega.

Reno and Rude unleashed a new combination move they had been working on. Taking his fighting rod in both hands Reno created a large ball of energy. He fired it straight at Omega. It was slow moving but that was part of the attack. Rude, then jumped into the air as Reno fired the energy ball, he came down harder than he ever had to generate a mega grand spark attack. His attack hit the back of the energy ball, making it faster. The combined attack took Omega by surprise but he still did not move. The energy hit true and exploded on impact with the opponent. Exhausted after the untested move, they went down to their knees. As the smoke from the attack cleared, Omega emerged unharmed.

Rude grunted "Damn…" Reno sighed "Oh well, Rude. It was fun."

Omega created a small energy ball in both hands and threw them at the Turks. As the balls approached them, they felt strange. The balls exploded, but did not hurt them. The two friends looked at each other and saw a weird glow about their bodies. The exhaustion left them and they rose to their feet.

Zack had jumped up off his seat and raised his sword "What's going on here!" He demanded Behind Reno, he heard a familiar voice "You boys okay?" "What?" Reno and Rude both looked behind them, there stood a figure in a pink dress.
"Aeris?…" Rude asked "Yeah, it's me. Why don't you move it and get out of here. My Great Gospel move won't protect you forever." "Great…" Reno started but Rude shook his head and pulled Reno to the stairs "Let's go. Aeris can handle this." "What!" Reno said, but Rude just picked him up and carried him down the stairs.

………

Aeris looked back as Rude carried Reno down the stairs. She smiled but it quickly vanished when she turned back to the strange creature and… Zack?

"Zack? Is that you?" Zack took a step back "You know me? How? I don't know you." Aeris was shocked "It's me, Aeris. Don't you remember me. We used to be friends." Zack shook his head "Sorry, girl. I've never met you before." Aeris was crushed and her face showed it.
The creature spoke up "I think I can explain this for you, young lady. You see. This Zack is not the Zack that you know. He is the from another world, as am I. In our world, you did not exist." "Did not exist…?" So there was no way this Zack could know me.
"My name is Omega. I am a weapon, created by a scientist from another world, to destroy Jenova. But the influence of this entity is so widespread. That the only way to stop it is to destroy… everything!" "WHAT!" Aeris shouted.
Zack just stood there, his eyes wide. But he didn't move.
"Jenova is already gone from here." Aeris said, trying to sound confident and convincing.
"You are wrong. And not understanding. Jenova still resides in this world, I can sense it. But it is not only this world on which it resides, it's influence inhabits many worlds and many dimensions. I have my order and I will carry it out." Aeris could only remain silent "Even with my power though, it will not be enough to do the task. That is why I need help. And this world has provided the means for me to destroy all the influence." "I won't let you, you won't destroy everything." "Ah, catching on, I see. Let us leave. I now make my way to Round Island." Omega blasted a window with a magical attack "Come and follow me, if you want. But if you do, I will strip you of the thing that makes you impervious to my attacks at this moment. The Lifestream." Aeris stood there for a second as Omega and Zack jumped out the window and fell to the ground below. They landed softly and walked away from the building.

Aeris reflected on what was said, but then concentrated on the airfield behind the Shinra tower, shimmered and disappeared from the room.