Disclaimer:The usual, plus everything I invented that is not directly linked to the FF series is mine.
Notes:Be warned, this chapter is twice my usual: 4000 words instead of 2000. If you thought my usual was short, then don't worry about it. Anyways, although it's called "revelations", this chapter doesn't talk about the Lord of Weapon just yet. The revelations are dealing with the Ultima spell, so get ready for a chemistry lecture in the second half (and if you're curious to know what exactly is real, drop me an email.) Oh, and thanks for the review, Riku no Kage.Unfortunately, I haven't played Kingdom Hearts so I have no clue what you're talking about. And thanks for telling me about my grammer problems and typos. I don't think I have typos though, but any grammatical errors are because MS Word can't check it very well, and I don't focus on proofreading my stuff.
-silversquall
Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon
Chap 6: Revelations
Flashback to the Research Center"Is it dead?" asks Squall. "It's not disintegrating."
"I don't think it's dead, but I never thought a Weapon could be knocked unconscious," says Cloud.
"It must have been my limit break, it's a stunning maneuver."
"SLEEP!" yells Squall. The spell is successful since the Weapon soon begins snoring. "That should give us some defense."
"Why don't we just kill it?" asks Cid.
"OH! I get it. You're planning to get a sample for the Esthar scientists to analyze it aren't you, Squall?" asks Rinoa.
"Right. The results may give us a weakness for these things. They're not exactly normal by any standard. Alright, watch out everyone." Squall walks to the dragon's empty hand and makes a clean slice with his gunblade, severing the forearm. Immediately as he does so, the rest of the body begins disintegrating; the particles float slowly upward. "Two of us should watch the arm," pointing at the red limb on the floor. "The rest should go and search the offices for any information that might prove useful."
"I'll stay," says Cloud.
"Me too. I'll gut it if it moves," says Cid.
"Then it's settled," says Squall.
Esthar Lab-Terrestrial Organisms Research Division
It's a good thing I cut that sample, maybe we'll learn some important stuff after all, thought Squall.
Cloud, Tifa, Cid, Rinoa, Squall, Ward and Laguna were all standing in a huge laboratory. Unlike the marine research facility, this room was not painted white. A drab gray took its place, transferring a sense of gloom to the six visitors. However, the psychological effect of the color apparently did not affect the scientists who had to spend long hours in the room. The lab technician who met them at the building's entrance and guided them within the lab wore a smile that seemed to be the type that never fades. The specimen Squall had taken was obviously a very important one; their guide was not alone in his geniality.
"Welcome Mr. President, Mr. President's son, Sorceress, Otherwordly visitors. Please, come along now," said a strange-looking scientist to whom their guide had led them. "I am Dr. Cedric Florentino. I am the head scientist here. My team and I have toiled for over ten hours straight without water or food trying to understand Weapon biology. I am so glad that you have brought us that sample."
"No problem," said Squall. "What did you manage to find?"
"That the Weapon creatures have no blood."
"Right, what else?"
"We're still taking tests so nothing's concrete except for that.."
"WHAT! You spent the last ten hours working and all you found out was that they have no blood? We could have told you that! Why the hell are we here."
"Well, that wasn't the only thing. We've spent the first three hours testing the substance that we found flowing through the beast's veins."
"But," said Laguna, "You've been working for half a day without stopping. Why have you suddenly called me now for a discovery you made seven hours ago?"
"I had my division call you because that discovery has had more implications than originally believed. The work we've done here has helped to advance the progress with two other laboratories. After meeting with all of you, I was going to send you over to the Centra Research Divisison and the Ultima Research Division."
"I understand the language we found was a Centra dialect, but why are we going to the Ultima labs? What does that have anything to do with any of these."
"Because we found that, instead of blood, the liquid form of Ultima flows through the veins of this Weapon, and presumably the others as well.
The group of six stood there stunned, unable to react. None of them were able to say a word after listening to that statement. Of course, Ward couldn't say anything. All of them were thinking the same thing, however. How could a magic spell be the blood of a monster? In fact, how is it possible for it to be in liquid form? Could it even be a solid? Does that mean magic spells are actually substances?
Dr. Florentino continued, "Now come, the other scientists are awaiting all of you to read the tablet's translation. We were not kidding when we said the fate of two planets rests in the balance, and perhaps the galaxy as well."
"By the way," Squall asked, "what's the other planet you were talking about?"
"You can drop by the space center for more information. They did send us over a picture and a few important characteristics but that is all," replied Dr. Florentino as he took a rectangular device out of his pocket. It was a PACTCOMTM, the only brand of compact computers. It was a satellite phone that also doubled as a data processor, complete with high-speed Internet access. "Here, this is an image of the other planet that the tablet speaks of." The whole group turned to look at the picture. None of the residents of GAIA had a strong reaction to the planet other than it was one that could easily have been inhabited. Cloud, Cid, and Tifa recognized the planet for it was their home.
"This can't be fucking real!" said Cid, "That's our planet.
The whole group started looking at the other aliens' directions. It seems that Cloud and Squall were very connected.
Esthar Lab-Centra Research DivisionThe seven visitors to the Esthar labs found the next room to be very similar to the previous one. The only difference was that ancient artifacts decorated the room. Stone images of battles, landscapes, and abstract emotions were scattered among the four walls and the ceiling. Tifa recognized them as being of the same style as the murals she found in her bedroom. The artist must have been inspired by the art of a forgotten age. She looked to see if there was an original to the ones she saw back at the presidential office, and sure enough, she found the same lion, demon, dragon, and man on the wall to the right of the lab's entrance.
"Welcome," said an albino scientist who moved forward to greet them. "I am Dr. William Riven, the one in charge here. I don't want to waste any time for time is of the essence. Follow me."
He led them over to the back of the laboratory where they saw the tablet and the piece of paper, which bore the inscriptions. The two objects were side by side on a counter, in front of the base of huge computer monitor. Dr. Riven pulled a keyboard from a rollout shelf beneath the counter's surface and began typing a series of commands. Soon the inscriptions appeared on the screen. Then, directly below each line of text was the translation:
The Garnet Weapon lies here. The second strongest stands as a sentry over the Ultima, and it will be the first to awaken, followed by the Ultima, then the others all over the world.
Note: the language contains no articles at all.
My power is growing as the years past. After two hundred years, I will be born again. I find that great power eventually begets great exhaustion as the fuel of myself drains away. The energy source within my being is reduced to nothing as the chaos continues, and there is not enough ether to solve this problem. After hibernating for a length of time, I will soon have perpetual energy, and therefore, perpetual power. Until then, I send my world's array of Weapons to the alien lands where there is much mana to absorb. After devastating those worlds, the Weapons will return to me, giving me the energy they have found. My elders were imbeciles; they know not what potential the Weapons truly have.
Below the introductory message were symbols, when translated, represented a plethora of numbers and calculations.
Dr. Riven explained, "The numbers at the bottom refer to very various distances and points in the universe that are used to describe the exact locations of where this mysterious character has sent his Weapons. After much figuring and guessing, we have been able to find the planet from where the speaker says he is located, and therefore exactly where the two planets are. Gaia is one of them."
"And so is Earth, our planet," finished Cloud.
"You alien visitors have seen the planet. And you recognize it as your own? Are you sure you know nothing of this character?"
"Are you trying blame us, doc?" asked Cid.
"No, no, of course out. It just seems like an odd coincidence that you three would appear here at this particular time."
"We do know where the Weapons came from, but it seems to be disproved by this tablet. Supposedly, an ancient race on our planet called the Cetra, built these Weapons to protect themselves," said Tifa.
"Did you say cetra? I wonder if those are connected to the Centra in any way," said Rinoa.
"Wait a second. We found the Ultima Weapon before the Garnet Weapon appeared. This tablet states that the Garnet Weapon would awaken first," said Zell.
"It was believed that the Ultima Weapon caused the deaths of the original occupants of the Deep Sea Research Center. They must have been excavating, discovered it, and it retaliated by using light pillar all over the place, which explained why the place was in such horrible array," said Squall.
As the others began discussing the situation, Cloud continued to analyze the translation. Then he turned over and said, "Guys, I think this is a prophecy. It's inferring that when the "speaker" is said to awaken, the Weapons will also awaken and destroy their respective worlds. If Garnet Weapon is the first to awaken, and it apparently already has, then the prophecy is now taking place."
"But isn't possible that the scientists awakened this one as they did the Ultima," asked Laguna.
"We shouldn't risk that. I say we hunt down these Weapons now. Before they corrupt this world. And when we fix the Gravitor, we can return home to fight the ones there. Most of those are already destroyed too."
"But we have two problems," said Squall, "Fighting the Weapons aren't easy, especially the Omega Weapon, which is the strongest in the world. We killed the one in the future, but the one in the present is still here. Also, we have no way of tracking down these creatures."
"Now that all of you have had this little discussion, would you please walk over to the Ultima Research Division," said Dr. Riven, "The solutions to those problems have been and are currently being addressed as we speak."
"Wow, so you guys have been doing stuff," said Rinoa.
Esthar Lab-Ultima Research DivisionThe group began feeling as though they were on a conveyor belt. It seem that the Esthar scientists had already orchestrated their visit in advance. At least they seem to know what they're doing, thought Squall.
When they entered the facility devoted to anything Ultima, they found themselves in a dark room with only a few dimly lit lamps. A scientist walked over to them as soon as they had opened the door. He introduced himself, as Dr. Joseph Ryder, and that all the scientists had been busy preparing a PowerPoint presentation. Dr. Ryder took them over to a group of seats between many other lab technicians. The group soon noticed that much of the lab had been rearranged for the purpose of this presentation. It now resembled a cheap theater.
"Get ready guys, and pay close attention," said Dr. Ryder.
The group soon found themselves watching a presentation dealing with the chemical makeup of Ultima.
On the projector
Ultima, the name of the ultimate magic spell. In addition to bearing no elemental characteristic, it disregards any defense; no creature is able to shield itself from the emerald-green blast. But why is this power so strong? We must examine exactly what Ultima is. To catch the gas form of Ultima is near impossible, but with its liquid form, we can examine its constituent parts.
An image of two circles appeared. Each had a smaller, concentric circle within it.
An Ultima molecule is the result of the soulonic bonds (a white line connecting the two circles glows) between a hydrogen atom (the circle on the left glowed blue) and a gravijin (the circle on the right glowed purple).
Soulonic bonds are formed by the attraction between two groups of soulons, subatomic particles that surround the nucleus of certain atoms of certain elements (little white dots appear around the inner circles). Soulons are theorized to be the material of "soul". The substance which ancient civilizations believed to be the lifeforce of living things. Currently, all living things have been discovered to contain these particles within the majority of the molecules of which it is comprised.
The element hydrogen has an atomic number of one; therefore it contains exactly one proton and one electron. Various hydrogen isotopes do occur, containing varying amounts of neutrons in the nucleus, but these are far more rare. Hydrogen is a diatomic atom, for it only occurs in nature in pairs. 95 of all hydrogen atoms contain soulons.
A gravijin is a mysterious chemical entity that may be a component of the theorized dark matter. In laments terms, it is an element whose protons have been stripped away, possibly by combined elemental forces. In theory however, the strong force that kept the neutrons and protons together would have faded away, causing the entity to no longer exist. In rare cases, part of the force which caused the protons to be removed was the magic spell Demi, which is comprised of concentrated gravitons (theoretical subatomic particles said to cause gravity.) The Demi is held by the remaining neutrons and the electron shells, and therefore continues to exert a powerful gravitational force that manages to keep the entity together. This proton-less unit is called a gravijin.
Generally gravijins have a half-life of 7.83 minutes, but if during that period, it comes in contact with an element that contains soulons, there is a 12 chance that a soulonic bond will occur. Soulons are most common in hydrogen atoms, and among those, they are most common in hydrogen ions found in bodies of water. This explains why Ultima is generally found in some body of water.
That explains how I obtained the Ultima material from a well, thought Cloud to himself. The Ultima draw point at the Shumi Village is probably directly above a subterranean lake, thought Squall to himself.
A reason for Ultima's power lies in the potential energy of the gravijin. The electrons of an atom can be found on different layered shells called orbitals. The first orbital of an atom can contain up to two electrons, and every shell in addition to that can contain up to eight electrons. Every previous shell must be filled completely before a new one. Electrons have the same size and mass, but differ in energy content. The electrons closest to the nucleus contain the least amount of energy. This is because it requires more electromagnetic energy to keep the electrons farther away. A strange mechanism within the gravijin allows for perpetual energy. The electrons are moved outward by the soulonic force, resulting in increased potential energy. Immediately after this, the Demi nucleus pulls it back in, causing a release of kinetic energy (this animation was showed on the screen).
A gravijin's half-life may be short but when it forms a soulonic bond with a hydrogen atom, the gravijin will exist until the bond is broken. As a result, the gravijin continues to pull electrons to itself as the Ultima molecule flows around. The average gravijin found in Ultima contains 12 shells (ninety electrons). However gravity should not be this possessive, since it is the weakest of the four standard forces (gravity, weak, electromagnetic, and strong). How the gravijin is able to override the electromagnetic force of other molecules is still a mystery, and my have to do with the presence of soulons (which, along with fabricons, provides the mysterious fifth force, etheonic).
Another reason for Ultima's power is the soulon. Little is known about these particles. If they truly are the source of lifeforce, than the reason for Ultima's destructiveness is clear.
These are the reasons for the energy content of Ultima. However, the Ultima spell, the gas form, is the result of the breaking of soulonic bonds, which contains a huge amount of energy. Generally, the damage done by Ultima is the result of the breaking of these bonds by way of the spell. Humans rarely see or experience the power wielded by Ultima with its bonds intact.
-fin
The lights went on in the room, and all the scientists began clapping. The seven appeared to be dumbfounded by the presentation. Dr. Ryder walked over to them and asked, "Well, any questions?"
None of the group answered. Finally, Cloud spoke up and asked, "You say that the spell is the result of the breaking of the soulonic bonds. When is it possible to experience Ultima's power otherwise?"
"By being hit with solid Ultima."
"Oh, that explains what Ultima stones are. I always thought they were stones with Ultima energy within them," said Rinoa.
"Actually, that is what they are. When I say solid Ultima, I'm referring to things like, well, there aren't very many in existence. Oh yes, an example of solid Ultima would be the blade of that young man's sword," said Dr. Ryder pointing at Squall. "The Lionheart is a gunblade made from Ultima. And I think if I got the chance to analyze his sword," Dr. Ryder said pointing to Cloud, "I would find that the blade is also made of Ultima. Solid Ultima is blue, you know, unlike the gas, which is green."
This response, as did the other revelations they had heard this morning, caused mass confusion among the group.
"Doctor, are you telling me that I have been using a blade of Ultima this entire time?" asked Squall. "I know exactly the materials used for this gunblade, and none of those were Ultima. And I don't think that the junk shop owners would have Ultima lying around."
"If I recall correctly, one of the materials needed for a Lionheart is pulse ammo, correct?"
"Oh, that's right," said Zell. "The pulse ammo is refined from energy crystals, which could refine into Ultima stones. So that means energy crystals have Ultima in them, and so do the pulse ammo. And that's also why Irvine's pulse ammo is blue. And even more, it—"
"Thanks, Zell," said Squall while covering Zell's mouth.
"And my blade," started Cloud, "came from the remains of the Ultimate Weapon. So I've been using a blade of Ultima as well."
"Look, all that's really interesting, but the guys at Centra said you techies had some sort of solution to finding and beating the other Weapons which could be walking the planet any second," said Laguna.
"Quite right. First of all, we know the chemical makeup of Ultima so we can easily assemble a device to locate large quantities of it. As for beating them..." Dr. Ryder walked over to one of the counters. He didn't seem to find what he was looking for so he motioned to another scientist to come over. After exchanging a few words, the two walked over to the wall left of the entrance. There was a lone painting on the wall, one of a huge explosion, apparently of Ultima. They removed it, revealing a vault behind it. The other scientist quickly pressed the password, gave a fingerprint scan, and a retina scan. At last, the vault opened. The scientist reached in a pulled out a red gun. It appeared to be standard pistol with an extra-long barrel that seemed to have narrow vents on the side for some odd reason. He passed it to Dr. Ryder who walked back to the group.
"This is the UB-30. We've been working on these weapons for quite some time now. This model is the first one that actually works without exploding."
"Uh, are you sure," asked Tifa.
"Don't worry we've tested it numerous times. Anyways, it's called the Ultima-Breaker. The secret behind is this new particle we recently discovered only a few years ago. Are all of you familiar with ether?"
Only the faces of Cloud, Tifa, and Cid lit up. "Oh yeah, it refills ours MP. Basically that's our energy that allows us to cast magic," said Tifa.
"Really? We cast magic by the individual quantity," said Rinoa
Before Tifa and Rinoa could start another conversation concerning their planets, Dr. Ryder cut in.
"That must be a different ether. I'm referring to the material that the ancient civilizations once believed to permeate the universe, and mediate gravity and the other forces. Other peoples believed it to be the lifeforce. Generations ago, it was only the stuff of fairy tales. However, we had already found the soulon, which we believe to be the lifeforce. That leaves the remaining component of ether, the universal medium, which we feel that we have finally discovered. We have penned this new particle a fabricon. We believe it to be the particle of which the dimensional fabric is made."
"And what does this have to do with anything destroying the Weapons?" asked Laguna again.
"One of the things we have discovered is that while soulons have a soulonic force, fabricons have a fabriconic force. Both of these appear to be opposite sides of the same coin, and we have called that coin the etheonic force. It's a theoretical force, but it makes sense. It seems to fluctuate in strength, though. Anyways, soulons and fabricons seem to be the smaller versions of the protons and electrons, which are part of the electromagnetic force. There is one key difference, however. Unlike their electric counterparts, soulons and fabricons repel one another. This may be another reason why Ultima is so powerful. The activated soulons disrupt the dimensional fabric, which is the medium of which we are a part. The point of this lecture is that since the blood of the Weapons is Ultima, which is held together by soulonic bonds, we can—"
"Destroy the bonds by shooting fabricons at the Weapon. The bonds will break, and the Ultima-blood will explode!" finished Cid. "Great job, Doc. This gun shoots fabricons doesn't it? It'll really fuck them up."
"Yes, we have been able to isolate the fabricons from several elements and store them into a tube fashioned into a cartridge. It takes a lot of work, but we managed to create 8 seven-cartridge magazines for these guns; we have five of them. That's 56 shots total, but since it causes a tremendous release of energy within the Weapon's veins, you won't need more than a couple of shots per Weapon."
"I wonder how many Weapons are there," said Cloud. "I assume our worlds have the same amount."
"Let's see, when I scanned the Garnet Weapon, it listed:Ultima, Amethyst, Opal, Topaz, Turquoise, and Omega. That totals to seven Weapons. How many have you guys fought on your planet, Earth? Unfortunately we only fought Ultima and now Garnet. Damn it, I can't believe we have to face Omega again," said Squall.
"Too bad for you guys. We got the Ultimate, Ruby, Emerald, Diamond, and the other that Junon Harbor shot down. That leaves Omega's Gemini and another gemstone," said Tifa.
"Be careful of the Omega double. He's really powerful," said Zell. "We only won because we were using invincibility items."
"We got Anti-Weapon weapons now. There's nothing to worry about," said Cid.
"I hope you're right, Cid," said Rinoa while looking at the red handguns. They looked so small. Then she turned back to Dr. Ryder.
"Wait a minute. If understand these guns correctly. That means you guys finally found a way to defend against Ultima."
"Well, not exactly. Soulons and fabricons are equal. If soulons are shot toward the fabricons, the fabricons will be knocked out of place. It depends on their velocities. The one with the greater velocity will be dominant."
"Still, if you can create a really fast fabricon launcher, you can actually stop an Ultima blast before the bonds can break and release energy. Or even a fabriconic field that's made of fabricons moving back and forth."
"Rinoa, you're really getting into this, aren't you," said Squall.
"Anyways," said Laguna, "now that we have Ultima killers, are you Ultima seeking devices going anywhere."
"Yes, Mr. President. By utilizing a gravijin and soulon based reactor, we can scan the entire planet where there are large quantities of these entities. However, we are going to need a capable reactor to implement our devices."
Everyone thought for a moment. Then Zell said, "Can't you use a Garden?"
Dr. Ryder looked upward for a moment and said, "That would work. If you can get Balamb Garden to allow us to use part of their reactors, we should be able to pull it off." Turning over to Cid, Tifa, and Cloud, he said, "Does your planet have any reactors free for use?"
The three simply smiled.