Disclaimer:ditto
Notes:Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming. Kaegoe, I don't mind the long reviews, so don't worry. And also, your Zell and Tifa fist fight is in chap 5. Hopefully my battle scenes are better than my dialogue. The funny thing is, these battles would probably only last a half-minute in real-time, but it took me a half-hour each to write them (not the one in this chapter, this one is very simplistic, but hey, these guys are pretty damn strong, remember?) As for Cid humor, well, I'm not good at writing comedy either, but if I do it, expect it in chap 7 in a humor filler. And for my "Weapon revelations", it's been pushed back to chap 6. Get ready for complex physics and chemistry facts in that, most of which I made up or don't understand very well in the first place.
-silversquall
Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon
Chap 4: Garnet
On the Gravitor, toward the Deep Sea Research Center
The space/land/water/airship, in spite of all the auxiliary functions it had, was not even on par with the Ragnaroks. Unfortunately, like those ships, the Gravitor's engine is altered when leaving the zone of zero gravity. Those types of ships move quite fast for space travel within the star system, but the speed is cut drastically as soon as it enters the atmosphere. Even worse, the Gravitor was clearly designed to move from point A to point B instantaneously and not much else. Still, its speed allowed for a trip from Esthar to the Research Center to only last about three hours. Laguna had been worried that this new Weapon was a marine organism, but the satellites hadn't picked up any motion of an unusually large creature moving away from the island. Three hours had nearly passed and Laguna could rest easy that the ship would probably reach its destination with the creature still there.
"Man, this is so fucking boring. I thought we'd be close by now," said Cid as he checked the coordinates. "Oh, we are. Thank God."
Cid had actually offered to fly his ship to the research center. He simply had the Estharian scientists remove the gravitational reactor from the Gravitor and work on it that well, freeing the ship for his use. He didn't have to be there for two reasons, he explained to Cloud who had asked him: "I'm a pilot. I'm also a plane mechanic. This is not a plane. Not only that, the ship isn't the problem some black gravity-shooting box is. I couldn't care less what the problem was. I just need them to fix is so we can get home when we need to. Besides, you'll need my help to kick some WEAPON ass.
Cloud, Tifa, Rinoa, and Squall were all sitting in the "living room" of the ship. It contained a plasma flat-screen TV, racks of films, and multiple gaming consoles. Currently, Tifa, Rinoa, and Cloud were playing Tales of Symphonia.
Squall sat out for that battle, thinking over what Tifa and Cloud had commented on earlier. Rinoa had passed on the note to him, Cloud, and Tifa to read. The latter two had shouted "WEAPON!" at the same time. Squall looked over to the three playing the videogame. Guess they're not curious or paranoid as I am. Though Cloud probably is, he's just obsessed with that RPG. After the two had shouted, everyone just looked at them to see what was the matter. Not only are Cloud and I sharing memories, both of our worlds contain the ultimate monsters called WEAPONS. This can't be just a simple coincidence. Could we be connected by this thing that we're going to face? I just don't get it. What the hell is going here?
"C'mon Squall, we need your help in this battle," said Rinoa. "Your fingers can't hurt that much."
HEY YOU VIDEO GAME JUNKIES, WE'RE HERE! said Cid over the intercom.
In the Deep Sea Research Center
"Damn, look at all the damage that's been done to this place."
Cloud scanned the landscape around him. All of the facilities were in ruins, even the landing platform where they docked their ship. They also looked aged, perhaps a decade or so, judging from the paint's color. Was this really a working excavation site?
"Actually, Cloud, that was already there when we first got here a four years ago. Laguna began this operation a year or two after that, but obviously, he never got around to actually fixing that which was damaged," said Squall.
"Hey, that means this excavation site wasn't an Estharian endeavor?" said Tifa. "If they didn't do it, who did. Earlier when you told your story, it seems like you've never known about this place, so it can't be any of the other three contries."
"Something like this was probably a top-secret government project. Balamb's too small, Trabians don't seem interested in anything type of archeology that's out of their continent, and Laguna would have told us of it earlier if it were Estharian. That leaves Galbadia. Unless, this is some private faction; then it could be from anywhere."
"Yeah," said Rinoa, "after four years the scientists here still haven't found anything related to the Ultima Weapon and what exactly happened here that caused all this destruction."
"It could have been that or maybe just a couple of earthquakes," said Cloud.
"Laguna once told me that the metalloids used to create this island are not of Estharian level of technology, but they're highly advanced. Tectonic plates would not be able to cause these fissures," said Squall.
"Stop talking and let's just get this over with," said Cid.
The five started walking into the main building. A sense of nostalgia hit Rinoa and Squall as they walked in. Although the emptiness and eerie blue light that they remembered were not present, memories of fighting the GF Bahamut came back. The familiar surroundings were replaced by new walls, waxed floors, and working fluorescent lights, creating an antiseptic aura in contrast with the original dungeon look. Laguna did have the sense to fix the environment in which the scientists would be working.
Unfortunately, the new walls were stained with blood. No bodies, however.
"I just thought of something, Squall. What if this thing in here is as strong as the Omega Weapon? We were only able to kill it with the use of the Holy Wars that Gilgamesh gave us. And we don't have any of those left." said Rinoa.
"You guys didn't tell us that part of the story," said Tifa, "What Weapon? And who is this Gilgamesh?"
"Quiet!" whispered Squall. "Do you hear that?"
Everybody stood silently, listening intently. There were faint, but distinct, stomping noises somewhere below them.
Squall turned over, attempting to find the hole that he, Zell, and Rinoa had climbed down. Apparently, it had been replaced with an elevator. They wouldn't have to walk down hundreds of steps like they did last time.
"Let's go. What floor do you think it's on?"
Cid bent down to the ground and placed his hand on the floor. Then he turned his ear to it. To everyone's horror, he stood up, took his lance, and pounded the butt into the ground. He quickly pressed his ear to the floor. Cid turned to the others and said, "it's approximately 70 yards down and five yards to that side," as he pointed to his right.
He walked past them; after a few seconds without a response, he added, "Don't worry, I didn't give away our presence. It already knew we were here." Cid then continued toward the elevator.
"That was really interesting," said Rinoa.
The four followed Cid into the elevator, preparing for the worst. The elevator, luckily, had not been damaged, but it had been covered with more blood. Apparently, the creature was intelligent enough to use the elevator, twice, or more. Or maybe it followed a staff member and accidentally touched the button. As the box sank slowly into the earth, so did the hearts of the group. Fighting a Weapon always induced nervousness. They tried to give each other space but they could have not extra room if they were to avoid touching the walls at the same time
Moments later, the elevator and stopped. The doors opened, but nothing except a wide, empty corridor greeted them. The stomping was getting close. Guess we're in the right place, thought Tifa.
The group moved through the corridor and when they reached the three-pronged fork at the end, nothing was in sight. Suddenly, a door was blasted from the jamb, and a hideous-looking creature walked out of the opening, only a few feet in front of them.
It wasn't a large Weapon. The fighters from Earth could clearly see that. But for Squall and Rinoa, it was just more of the same. The beast was about eleven feet tall. Like the Ultima and Omega, it was a four-legged, centaurian beast. Above the lower head, however, instead of an insectoid creature, was a dragon's upper torso. It held a curved saber in its right hand. The neck was fairly long, giving the Weapon the appearance of a highly deformed Giraffe. The red, gore-like skin didn't make the sight any more pleasant.
"SCAN!" shouted Squall.
All of sudden, an image overlay appeared in the minds of the group, placed over their view of the creature:
Garnet Weapon: One of the strongest, ultimate monsters. Its power exceeds that of the Ultima, Amethyst, Opal, Topaz, and Turquoise Weapons. However, this Weapon is still inferior to the Omega Weapon, which happens to be the strongest in the world.
"So, basically, this bastard is the second-strongest in the world," said Cid while pulling out his lance, "Let's do this."
He grabbed his lance and charged toward the beast.
"WAIT, CID!" yelled Cloud. "We don't know what we're up against."
"I don't give a shit!" As Cid approached the Garnet Weapon, he jumped into the air just short of the ceiling by a few inches and on his return trip, slammed the lance's point into the upper beast's chest. The dragon's head made a loud, growling noise and slashed Cid with its blade. Cid quickly dodged the strike and landed back in front of the group.
"Damn, the skin is tough."
Then the bottom head made a large roar, opening its gigantic mouth to reveal teeth that had been painted with a crimson tint. Before anybody could make a move, the opening emitted a red light that was headed straight for the group. Everybody jumped out to the corresponding branches of the hallway, except for Squall, whose right arm was caught in the blast. The laser lasted only a brief moment, but the instance it passed Squall's arm, it lit the limb on fire.
"Damn it! WATER!"
Squall's spell quickly extinguished the sleeve, but the damage had been done. Grabbing his wounded arm with his other hand to limit its movement, Squall quickly ran to the hallway on his left and stood next to Rinoa.
Cloud called out from the opposite corridor, "You alright?"
"What the hell was that?" asked Cid from behind Cloud.
"Yeah I'm fine," answered Squall. What was that though? It barely touched me but I feel like my arm is going to melt off. Looking at the Garnet Weapon, he used scan:
Garnet Wave: A fire elemental attack that is five times stronger than firaga. The nature of the attack requires it to be charged inside the user's body for a period of time. However, the wave is also unstable, and causes damage to the user half the damage inflicted to the target. Fire defense means nothing, as the wave breaks all defense.
Rinoa looked over at Squall and said, "CURAGA!"
"Thanks," said Squall, "I'm definitely gonna need my full health for this battle." He checked Rinoa for any injuries and seeing none, he turned over to the opposite corridor. "You guys alright?"
Cloud, Cid, and Tifa all nodded.
"This being a Weapon, I think Rinoa and I can handle it with our limit breaks."
"I don't believe this," said Cloud, "we have limit breaks too."
"Let's try casting aura on them, Squall."
"Alright, here goes."
Before Squall could cast the spell—
Apocalypse: The strongest spell in existence. It is even superior to the Ultima spell.
several circles of varying sizes appeared on the floor and strange symbols materialized within them. Then, before anybody knew what was happening, the circle shattered and a huge flame slammed upward, catching anything in the vicinity.
The hallways in the area were soon scarred by the flames that appeared instantaneously. Out of the smoke, a voice cried out, "Renzokuken!" Squall came out of the ruined hallway and toward the Garnet Weapon. He slashed the beast repeatedly with his gunblade then jumped on top of the beast's back, continually slashing the dragon's head. After about nine hits, Squall flipped backwards and landed on his feet. "Damn, can't pull off a finishing move. My fighting spirit hasn't completely taken over me yet."
"Don't worry, I'm here to back you up."
Cid stood up, badly burned but still moving. He held up his lance and yelled, "Garnet, let's see you handle my dragon!" A blue, transparent dragon soared out of the spear and went directly toward the Weapon's upper mouth, which was, at that moment, screaming in pain. This blast knocked the Weapon backwards a few feet. Cloud and Rinoa stood up next, and in a pincer formation, they yelled, "Ultima!" A green mist emanated from Cloud and smothered the monster. A small fireball shot from Rinoa slammed against the Weapon and detonated into a huge, multicolored explosion, which was amplified by Cloud's spell. At this point, the beast was heavily scarred, but as with the other Weapons, it didn't seem to bleed. It continued to walk forward. Tifa appeared at last, and shouted, "Time for my new limit, Knockout Fist!" as she ran up and punched the Garnet Weapon in its bottom face. The monster finally collapsed; it stopped moving.