Disclaimer: I don't own any FFX characters or the Predator or their weapons or anything we ripped off either blatantly or discretely and their distinct resemblance. What I do own however is the idea Tidus being able to turn into an Aeon and kicking ass.
A/N: Sorry for the delay, my comp crashed. Anyway, this chapter is only here to build up to the climax of the final fight. It also serves to do nothing more than to clear up several doubts and link this fic to the actuall game.
Chapter 17: Seymour…Again…
The party was contemplating their next move after defeating Yunalesca. They all knew that she was lying and there was another way to beat Sin. They just had to find it.
"Why don't we go dig about Zanarkand. We might be able to find some useful manuscripts or tablets," said Rikku.
"Yeah, while we're at it we might as well go look for Moses' DVD collection," replied Tidus sarcastically.
"I was just trying to be helpful…" defended Rikku.
"What the kid said is right," said Brother from the pilot's seat, "Searching in Zanarkand is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Wait a minute, I take that back. Make that a fragment of a needle."
"Brother's right. The search topic is too specific and the search area is too broad. We gotta go to another place. Probably a living Google search engine or encyclopedia," remarked Lulu.
"So what do I type in? Old geezer that lived for too damn long?" asked Buddy as he bent over to the Sphere Osclilo Finder's control panel.
"That might work," muttered Auron as a list began to build up on the screen of the Finder.
"On top of the list in Maechen and Mika," announced Buddy.
"Maechen's useless. He don't know anything," said Tidus.
"Then Mika it is," said Cid. He then picked up the communicator on the table, "All hands on deck! Combat level 2, Condition Yellow. Set course for Bevelle. Full speed ahead!"
With a mighty roar and a brilliant flash, the great contraption sped from the snowy peaks of Gagazet to Bevelle, leaving a trail of thick white smoke in its wake.
A/N: About one hour later…
The Al-Bhed soldiers and pilots who were expecting a fight were horribly disappointed. The city was nearly deserted, and there were traces of mass fleeing of the city everywhere. Dark streets and empty, derelict houses were all that greeted the Al-Bhed. The people of the city had fled, perhaps afraid of another Al-Bhed military strike or the oppressions of the temple of late. Or both.
The wreckage from their previous strike two weeks ago was not cleared yet and the entire place stank of death and decay. The roads were in a horrible state of disrepair and the mass flooding of several complexes due to burst pipes hindered the party's movement through the ghost town.
Yet, they were all on their toes, fearing that behind each corner, in each one of those empty, gazing windows was a Warrior Monk with his rifle leveled at them. Every noise put them on the slightest alert and every slight movement caused them to jump.
With much difficulty, they made their way to the Temple, which, thankfully, was lit and looked populated. The great gates of steel and oak were replaced by a thin palisade gate, which fell to one of Auron's mighty swings.
What greeted them was an alert, but dirty, visibly demoralized and somewhat small battalion of Warrior Monks. Their armours were stained with grit and mud and their weapons showed signs of being overused and overheated. Blood, bullet shells and bullet holes covered the walls and ground. Apparently, there was a revolt.
"Halt! The likes of you traitors will not be tolerated in this holy place," said their leader.
"Why the hell are you so enthusiastic? Just let them pass, if you don't they'll probably kill us anyway," said another from the back.
"Stop!" a voice from behind called.
The party's attention immediately shifted to a young woman who was running down the Highbridge. It was Shelinda.
"Lady Yuna and her Guardians are not traitors and are to be allowed to pass in peace," she commanded.
"But Cap'n…" the first Monk tried to protest.
"That was an order Sergeant," she replied authoritatively.
"Yes, Cap'n," the Monk finally relented.
Shelinda then led the party away from the Monks. Then, she burst out in a flurry of words, "Please Lady Yuna, tell me that the reports are false and that you didn't kill Maester Kinoc, Maester Seymour and Father Zuke."
"Well…we…" Yuna was at a loss for words.
"Yeah, we killed them. Got a prob' with that?" asked Tidus as he cracked his knuckles. He then slammed his fist into the wall, shaking a storm of dust loose and leaving a depression bigger that a dinner plate.
"Bring us to the old geezer who runs this place or you're head's next," he demanded.
Shelinda cowered in fear, but regained her confidence when Yuna stepped forth and reprimanded Tidus. She then asked politely for an audience with the Grand Maester.
"Er…Sure, come with me to the waiting room."
A/N: About twenty minutes later.
The party was getting impatient. Shelinda was gone for too long. Perhaps she was calling for reinforcements to take them out, but they could take on any number of Monks, so why bother?
Finally, Yuna took the initiative and got up to go seek out the Maester, wherever his ass was.
"Kimarhi, I.D. vision please," she asked.
"Certainly," said Kimarhi. His eyes flashed green and he began to scan the area.
"Found him," he said after a short while.
The party then swiftly proceeds to the innermost chambers of the Temple, leaving battered and dismembered Monks who resisted in their wake.
The door to Mika's private room was locked, but two quick slices of the Caladborg and the great wooden plate was reduced to matchwood.
"What are you doing here!" questioned Mika, his eyes widened in surprise, "Shouldn't you be in the Calm Lands defeating Sin with the Final Aeon? My Scouts report that you entered the Temple in Zanarkand."
"We did, but Yunalesca revealed the hidden condition for summoning the Final Aeon. I was unwilling to sacrifice any of my Guardians, so we disposed of her," replied Yuna.
"You lied Mika! You cheated the loyal devotees of Yevon and sent countless Summoners and Guardians to their doom! I hope there's a special place in hell waiting for you," yelled Wakka, while pointing an accusing finger at Mika.
"You defeated Yunalesca? My gosh. Now Spira is doomed! Without anymore Final Aeons, Sin shall be eternal! There will be no more calms and the people shall suffer. I will not be around to see this," said Mika as he tried to scurry out of the room, only to be greeted by a pair of pistols.
"You ain't going nowhere until you tell us why Sin keeps coming back and every other thing they didn't mention in the textbook," said Yuna.
"You brazen fools will not be able to stop Sin even with that information. But if it pleases you, I shall tell all. The spirit of Yu Yevon, ancient Summoner King of Zanarkand, dwells within Sin. Usually, when a Final Aeon is used to defeat Sin, the Aeon oly destroys the outer core. Yu Yevon is unhurt. He will then possess the Final Aeon and turns it into Sin, starting the cycle anew. From within, he continues the summoning," said Mika.
"Summoning what?" asked Tidus.
"Funny you should ask, Tidus, son of Jecht, Fist of Zanarkand. He is summoning where you come from," he replied.
"Hmm…" muttered Tidus. He retreated to the side of the room to digest this new knowledge.
The Grand Maester then walked to the corner of the room.
"Where you going?" asked Rikku.
"To prepare my funeral!" was the reply.
The old man was not going to give anymore information, thus the party left. But on the way out, they met Shelinda.
"I see you already met the Grand Maester," said Shelinda.
"Yes, we have," replied Yuna.
"Good, I have a report for him here as well," said Shelinda.
She entered Mika's room and found him busy with something. Not wanting to disturb him, she left the report on his desk.
On the way out, Yuna was greeted by an old ally. The Fayth of Bahamut.
"Yuna, please come to my chamber immediately. I have something of great importance to tell you," the Fayth spoke.
"Very well, I will go," she said.
"You who are one of us, yet you are not. Please come too," the Fayth told Tidus.
"Fine…" he replied.
The party then gave an excuse to be alone for awhile. They then went to Bahamut's chamber. He was already waiting.
'Thanks for the Aeon," she said.
"It was my pleasure," said the Fayth, "Now, onto more pressing issues. Yevon is in chaos. No more Final Aeons can be produced. What are your views on defeating Sin now?"
"Erm…" Yuna stammered.
"Simple," said Tidus, "The Yevonites banned Machina because they were sacrilegious, but why were they made sacrilegious? Because they are the other answer to beating Sin. They alone maybe able to defeating Sin, thus they were banned."
"Very good son of Jecht, but what about Yu Yevon? How will you beat him?" asked the Fayth.
"Even more simple. We make a big hole in Sin, jump in and find Yu Yevon. We blow him up then blow Sin up from within. Easy!" replied Tidus.
"Ah, a bold plan, very good," said Bahamut, "We shall help you in the upcoming fight. And another thing, about you. You are one of us, yet you are not, as the ceremony was disrupted. Thus you have the powers of an Aeon, but are still human. Use these powers for good. They are our gift to you."
"I shall," promised Tidus.
"Another thing. Try not to use it too often. The more you use it, the closer you go to becoming the Final Aeon, and the closer the Summoner goes, to death," said the Fayth in a hushed tone so Yuna couldn't hear him.
With that, the Fayth slowly descended back into his statue.
"What was that about?" asked Yuna, "About new powers and death?"
"Nothing, just nothing," said Tidus as he walked off.
"You know what? You're a poor liar," muttered Yuna under her breath.
When Shelinda had reentered Mika's office, only to find his headless corpse collapsed next to his chair, she ran out screaming in fear and panic. All remaining warrior monks in the vicinity of the temple were immediately put on high alert.
A small group of elite Warrior Monks, Yevon's Finest, were scouring the room to clues of Mika's killer, but the strange thing was, when Shelinda had returned with the Warrior Monks, Mika's corpse was gone.
Shelinda knew for sure that Tidus and Co. were not responsible for Mika's death, so she told the Warrior Monks not to bother chasing them, but rather ordered an extensive search of the temple's innermost chambers. What nobody noticed however, was the thin trail of blood that travelled down the side of a pillar that faced the wall.
If they had followed that trail of blood, they would have been led to a hole in the ceiling, shrouded in darkness. If they had went through that hole, they would have seen Mika's skinned and headless corpse hanging upside-down from the ceiling. And if they had turned to their left after they had seen his corpse, they would have seen a pair of yellow eyes flash at them within the darkness before disappearing.
(A/N: If you guys aren't intelligent enough to guess who it is, that was Dachande.)
A/N: This scene takes place in Rienim Temple in the Calm Lands.
Sandy launched a fierce Razzazia attack, consisting of two searing flame waves, but Yojimbo easily dodged.
Unrelenting, Sandy launched several Firaga spells at her adversary, knowing his weakness to magic. The spells kicked up a huge dust cloud, covering Yojimbo totally. Thinking, she had finished off her foe, she let her guard down, only to hear the clinking of metal and seeing a flash of steel from behind the dust cloud.
Three Kunai darts emerged and pinned her effectively to the wall of the hall, two nailing her wings and one lodged firmly in her stomach.
A shockwave created by the immense pressure of a sword slash slammed into her, causing her to reel with pain. She tried to dislodge the Kunai darts, especially the one in her stomach, but to no avail.
Helpless, she watched at Yojimbo muttered several incantations. A dark patch appeared on the ground. From the patch sprang a great sword with weird ancient inscriptions.
Yojimbo then unsheathed the blade, revealing a crisp sword that glistened in the sun. He then muttered more incantations, causing the sword to increase to monstrous proportions. Winding up, he hurled it at the restrained Sandy.
Unable to dodge, Sandy's head was violently sliced to half by the vicious sword strike. Crimson blood flowed freely at first and Sandy's body slumped down lifelessly, the only thins that held her up were the Kunai darts. The corpse then dissolved into a million pyreflies.
Seeing her sister's demise, Cindy wanted to rush to Yojimbo and extract vengeance, only to be swatted away by a great claw. She managed to regain her balance while airborne and launched a powerful Ultima attack at whatsoever attacked her.
The "swirl" effect of the spell slowly faded away, but to Cindy's horror, her foe, the King of Dragons, remained unfazed. Bahamut's wheel then started spinning wildly. Bahamut then loosed his Mega Flare attack on her, vaporizing her instantly.
The victorious Bahamut and Yojimbo turned their attention to the last member of the sisterhood: Mindy.
Little Mindy was terrified by the two Aeons, they defeated her sisters in mere moments. Now they were looking at her.
She backed slowly towards the corner as they approached.
Then, she bumped into something. Something big.
Looking up, she saw a pair of golden eyes staring ominously at her.
Amina knew that she could sit this fight out. Yes it may have been a three vs. three Aeon battle, but Yojimbo and Bahamut were strong enough to handle all three Magus Sisters. Slowly, she dozed off.
Then the small squirt decided to shove her out of her beauty sleep. No one dared to do that.
Anima was pissed, very pissed. Bahamut and Yojimbo knew that and they backed off.
Then, Anima did the unthinkable.
She bent over and grabbed Mindy with her jaws, shaking her about violently like a rag doll. Bloody splashed everywhere and even her comrades were shocked at this gruesome display of gore.
After a few moments of shaking, Mindy's unrecognizable body was flung free of her head. It splattered onto the wall and created a huge bloodstain, which slowly dissolved into pyreflies.
Belgemine then approached from the other side of the hall.
"Summoner Yuna. You have bested my best Aeons in fair combat. You are truly strong," she praised.
"You flatter me," replied Yuna.
"Now, as promised, I shall entrust to you a weapon that will aid you against Sin," she said. From her sleeve she produced a blue staff that had a great gold crest that faintly resembled a fan of feathers. Jewels of many sorts were embedded in the crest.
"This staff is called the Nirvana. It has been guarded by my family for an age, now I pass it to you. Use it well," she instructed.
"I shall," Yuna reassured her.
"Now, my job is done. Send me," she said.
"But…" stammered Yuna.
"Do it," she ordered.
Yuna then twirled her staff and performed the sending ritual. Then, they turned around and left, leaving the small swarm of pyreflies behind.
As the party closed the great stone doors behind them, the swarm of pyreflies slowly reshaped into the form of Belgemine.
"You don't have to hide, they've gone," she said.
Behind her, Dachande slowly uncloaked.
"Good choice of prey you have, Lady Yuna is strong," she continued, "Stronger than me. I feel that I kinda disappointed your father a century past."
Dachande growled in response.
"You're prey is not her, but her Guardian?" she asked.
Dachande nodded.
"The blonde one, Tidus, I assume?" she asked.
Dachande growled a confirmation.
"Yes, I noticed too. His sword is the Caladborg, the sword of darkness. Blade of Lord Shuyin, one of two men who defeated your kinsmen ages past," she commented, "As you know, the Nirvana is Lady Lenne's staff. Is it fated that these two weapons would be reunited after so many years?"
Dachande let off a low growl. Then, Belgemine disappeared in a swarm of pyreflies while Dachande activated his cloak and left.
A/N: Lazy, so we'll skip ahead to the fight against Sin.
Gippal re-ran the O.S. (Operating System) of his T/S-17F "Mockingbird" fighter aircraft. Everything was in perfect order, almost too perfect. He never liked flying, but now they didn't need a soldier, only a pilot, thus he was forced to take up the joysticks.
Despite being one of the most decorated flying aces in his younger years, he never stepped into a plane again after his father Kamikazed his S/F-12R "Rapier" (An earlier Al-Bhed fighter) into a Sinspawn, saying something about redeeming himself after letting the Al-Bhed down once.
Yeah right Dad. You couldn't let anyone down even if you tried. You can't even pick someone up!
He hated being in tense battles. The looks the technicians gave him were as if he wasn't gonna survive. Yeah right. He pulled one off in Bikanel, he could do it again.
Although he was only fifth from the launch catapult, it took near an eternity to reach his turn. He knew why. Everyone was anxious. This wasn't any ordinary sortie, neither was it an escape from a burning building. It was the greatest fight of their time, the entire human race, no; the entire Spira depended on them.
The technicians were being extra cautious, and the pilot behind him, Rob Brussels, was triple checking his equipment.
What the heck! Rob doesn't check then usually, why now?
He looked back and saw a woman tearfully hug her husband before he boarded his V/A-32 "Morningstar" fighter-bomber.
Then he took a moment to think about the person he secretly loved. About her lovely green eyes and her sparkling blonde hair. About her ever-cheerful nature and about her childlike innocence.
"Captain Gippal, you copy?" his radio buzzed to life.
"Yeah, yeah. Sorry man. I'm ready for launch," he replied.
"Very well then. Captain Gippal, you are clear for launch. Please observe the pre-launch procedures," said the controller.
"Good luck," she gingerly added.
"How many times must I tell you? I don't need other people's luck, I make my own. Captain Gippal, service number 41047, launching!"
Nhadala entered the gunnery chamber of one of the airships many 35mm "Oerlikon" anti-aircraft guns. She was arguably the best gunner they had, thus she was placed in the most important turret of them all. The one right under the bridge. If she didn't get whatsoever she had to, the bridge would go up in smokes, as would their hopes of saving Spira.
During the briefing, it seemed simple enough. Just shoot and shoot. They were warned that there would be a shit-storm of Sinscales though.
Just shoot and shoot simple eh? My ass! They just had to put me in this turret.
She glanced at the gleaming row of bullets in the feeder which connected the gun's chamber to the external ammo stores. Soon, these harmless looking metal pieces would be eating their way into Sinscale flesh.
When she sat at a turret, she usually calmed herself by looking forward to the smell of gunpowder and burnt flesh. But now she didn't think she could smell it anymore. There was an even greater stench in the air: the stench of fear.
"Feelin' all right lieutenant?" asked a voice from behind.
She turned around and saw it was just Benzo, the kid who had opened the gates in Home to let the Hammer in.
"Yeah, somewhat," she replied with a nervous smile.
"You'll be fine, those frags you've got don't lie you know," said the kid.
She glanced at her specialized counting machina. It read 839.
"You're gonna hit 1,000 right?" asked Benzo.
"Hell yeah!" she replied.
"That's good. Get high while you can. When I become a real soldier, I'm gonna beat your record!" he smirked.
"Bring it on kid!" she laughed.
It was only when Benzo left that she realized what their little chat had done. There was no longer a stench of fear, only one of anticipation. She felt better.
Those Sinscales are gonna make a run to their mommy when I 'm through with them!
Cid looked around at his crew. They were all busying themselves with work to take their mind off that ominous thought: Will we die?
But he had already planned this out. A stirring speech was all it took. He picked up the nearby radio.
"People," he started, shuffling his feet to the head of the bridge, "You know how I hate making big speeches during times like this."
Silence greeted him.
"All I know is that once we're through with this, we won't haveta' fucking worry about Sin anymore. What I mean is, good luck."
He looked around him. His crew was all gazing at him with fawning expressions. They were all smiling, showing no other emotion.
He smiled back. He was their commander, and they had been through hell with him and were still loyal to him. They were ready to fight.
Then, a voice brought them all back to their stations.
"Large heat signature detected at 12 o'clock! Approaching fast!"
"Alright guys, make it happen!"
Gippal felt the full throttle of the aircraft as it lurched out of the hanger. The plan was so damn simple that everything could screw up.
All he and his men had to worry about was covering and drawing fire from the "Morningstars" while they unleashed their deadly payload of MA-22s "Mistral" Advanced Medium Ranged Missiles onto the Sinspawn on Sin. The airship would then focus on taking Sin itself down.
Simple plan wasn't it? They said they had a secret weapon, but he never trusted secret weapons. The AFS was a secret weapon, but it was below expectations. The APU at some point of time was also a secret weapon, but they didn't have much of an impact on defending Home either.
He saw the recognizable shroud in the sky up ahead. It was Sin. It was casting some kinda demonic magic around it, making the sky around it blacken with dark clouds.
Dark clouds won't kill people. I do!
Then, a voice sounded out through his radio.
"Heads up people! We got a shit-storm of Sinscales!"
He put his HUD (Heads up Display) into full zoom. What he saw was horrifying. The darkness wasn't clouds. It was Sinscales. Then, they fired, launching weird spine like projectiles.
"Target aquired, engage! Engage!" he roared into the radio while desperately maneuvering his fighter to dodge the oncoming horde of spines.
The radio was blaring the cries of agony from other pilots. He glanced to his left and saw the "Mockingbird" on his left get torn to shreds by several spines. It descended into the sea of clouds as a blazing fireball.
He pushed the throttle to full and rockted past his enemy so fast that the Scale didn't know what was happening. The organic-born killer jinked left, then rolled right before entering and diving, decelerating a tight right turn. Gippal stayed with him, and as they leveled out of the turn, triggered a burst of machinegun fire. Silver bolts pounded on the Scale's tough carapace, easily disintegrating it with 8.34mm Titanium Vulcan Cannon rounds. He then loosed a missile at another Sinscale. It let out a shriek before dissolving into pyreflies in an inferno of angry flames.
Nhadala was at first shocked at the immense amount of Sinscales they were up against. She panicked and missed some of them, but soon experience kicked in and she was busy kicking Sinscale butt.
She was working like a machine, blasting Sinscale after Sinscale. The smell of gunpowder and the Sinscales dying shrieks increased her adrenaline level to dramatic proportions.
Then, she saw a great mass of Sinscales rushing towards the bridge. Turning her guns loose on them, she gunned down several, but there were still more coming. She had to stop them, no matter what. The bridge was at stake.
Suddenly, the Sinscales were consumed in a fury of hellish flames. From beyond the explosion emerged a "Mockingbird".
"Nice shot," she whispered over her radio.
"Thanks," came the reply.
Gippal and his flight, Red Flight, were pushing deeper and deeper into the swarm of Sinscales. There were originally twenty of them, but two "Mockingbirds" and one "Morningstar" got shot down, leaving seventeen.
Finally, they were in range of the Sinspawn on Sin. In an attempt to defend themsleves, the Sinspawn (they kinda look like Sinspawn Genasis, the one in Kilika) loosed balls of acid at the fighters, scoring several hits.
"Rob!" he yelled, but he knew Rob was already dead.
He tore his eyes away from the dying fighter and turned his attention to the Sinspawn.
"Do it!" he commanded.
The "Morningstars" let their Missiles cruise through the air and looked in satisfaction as they slammed home into their target.
But to their horror, the Sinspawn merely shook a bit, and then resumed firing acid attacks.
They never told us about this…
Cid stared at the battle that was unfolding in front of him. He gave a grunt of frustration when a "Mockingbird" got blasted to shrapnel by the spines of a marauding Scale, the grunt then turned into one of satisfaction when Scale in turn got reduced to pyreflies by his anti-aircraft guns after it paused to celebrate its kill.
He was being hounded to death by his crew, yelling damage reports and reporting the latest casualties.
He had made one serious miscalculation: the number of Sinscales. The Scales were preventing enough "Morningstars" from getting in range of the Sinspawn. But then again, even if they did, there was no telling if they'd get blow to bits.
His main cannons, the 38 cm SK C/34s, were on the verge of overheating. They had been bombarding Sin since the start of the battle. He'd had reports about a shell cooking off in the barrel of one of the batteries, disabling it for a few minutes.
He'd gotten so desperate to destroy the Sinspawn that he even ordered his secondary batteries to open up. The 22 cm SK C/28s were nothing compared to their bigger cousins, their shells barely even scratched Sin's surface, let alone deal damage.
"Scales incoming at 2 o' clock! They...they're gonna cast self destruct!" yelled the technician.
"Yevon! Evasive maneuvers!" ordered Cid.
Everyone held on tight as the massive ship lurched to a side to dodge the live missiles. Despite Brother's best efforts, one still made contact and the entire ship was shaken violently by the explosion.
"Hull damage has exceeded 40!" the technician reported.
"Father!" Brother called from the pilot's seat, "We gotta do something now! Blow an AFS or something!"
"Dumbass! We can't blow an AFS, it'll knock out every plane out there," he yelled in response.
"What about the BFGs? Can we blast them now and get it over with?" Brother asked again.
"That's a great plan doofus! The Scales will take the breach in our armor to rip up this ship!" he yelled back again.
"Load the Bloodhound tubes three to eleven! Hopefully this will give us enough firepower to knock em' out!" he commanded. The weapons officer uttered an affirmative, then proceed to bark orders of his own.
My original agenda was to sit back and react to changes on the battlefield as the battle unfolded. It really unfolding on my ass now…
Gippal guided his craft gracefully around the Sinspawn, dodging the now-suicidal Sinscales. They had apparently decided shooting him down would take too long, so now they were crossing in front of him in an attempt to cause a mid-flight collision. He caught a glimpse of a Scale out of the corner of his eye as it started its attack run and fired its spines.
Gippal juked his fighter downwards, causing the spines to sail clean past him, but another Scale failed to notice them. Still on its "kamikaze" run, it flew straight into the path of the spines. Giving a screech of pain, the impaled Scale launched spines of its own wildly without even aiming. Most of them found their ways to the Scales other buddies of course.
He thought he was home free as he switched to his missiles and bombarded the Sinspawn relentlessly. But then he saw three larger-than-usual Scales get launched from Sin. They unfolded to form larger, more powerful Scales.
They called them "Moths" despite the fact that they looked like giant bats from hell. The shrill cry of one was enough to scare the wits out of an entire squadron. Now he was up against three.
He fired his machineguns, trying to cause as much damage to the Sinspawn as possible while still weaving left and ducking right, in an attempt to loose the Moths, but they stubbornly stuck right on his tail. Flares launched by the Moths assaulted his fighter's Grade-A Titanium covering, pelting it away until the delicate inner wiring and hydraulics began to show.
Then, the Sinspawn turned its attention to him. It launched a ball of acid, intent on melting the lone fighter. Without thinking, Gippal had his fighter do a ninety-degree nose dive, dodging the acid with inches to spare. His pursuers weren't so lucky. They all got melted by acid.
"Holy shit Cap'n! Did you just get three Moth kills!" blared the voice of his comrade over the radio.
"I hell did, Andre, I hell did. Now get your ass over here, I need some backup!" he replied.
Andre gave an affirmative and fell into position behind Gippal. Then, another voice blared over the radio, this one more disturbing.
"All units around Sinspawn B-1 listen up! The commander has ordered a Bloodhound barrage of the area! You are advised to stay clear of the area," said a female voice.
"Yevon! Let's get outta here Andre!"
He was too late. The Bloodhound cruise missiles smashed onto the Sinspawn in a brilliant display of fireworks. Gippal felt the full throttle of the explosion and rode the impact until it finally died down. It was only then that he realized that he was smack in the middle of the swarm of Scales.
"Red lead! You have gazillions of Scales on you. Would you like backup?" asked a familiar voice.
"This is Red lead. Don't bother sending any kinda support. I got a deathwish!" At that moment, he kicked in his afterburners and rocketed towards the bleeding Sinspawn. (As in the one that suffered the full brunt of the barrage)
"Red lead, what the hell do you think you're doing?" asked another voice, this one he recognized as Cid's.
"What else? I'm gonna crash this bird into the spawn, it'll kill it for sure!" he replied.
"What the…" Cid stammered.
"If my old man can do it, so can I," he said, his voice full of determination.
"Take care of Rikku for me," he continued in a hushed tone so that only Cid could hear.
Then, another voice sounded over the radio, "Gippal, don't do it!" It was Rikku's.
"Rikku! Rikku, I have to do this, it's our only chance!" he yelled.
"Stay alive and live Gippal, nothing's gonna change with your death, but as long as you live, you can change something!" she yelled back, voice full of emotion.
"Rikku, I've come so far, I gotta do this, its too good a chance to pass up," he replied.
"Then I'll take it for you," she said.
Upon the flick of a switch, twenty seven missiles roared to life and streaked from Rikku's "Morningstar" towards the Sinspawn. The great beast roared in pain as the missiles collided with it before slumping lifelessly to the ground.
There was a chorus of cheers and reports of the death of a Sinspawn.
Inside, Gippal was glad. The thought of loosing Rikku of the rest of eternity wasn't a pleasant one.
Cid was getting frustrated. Although one Sinspawn had been defeated, there were still four more. The sudden emergence of so many Moths didn't help either. He was loosing fighters like nuts and more and more of his gun were going offline. He had to do something fast.
Now he had two options: continue fighting for that small chance of victory, or retreat and hope that Sin wouldn't chase after them. This was one of the most stressful times as the leader of the Al-Bhed, even more stressful than the Defense of Home. Not only the fate of the Al-Bhed depended on his decision, but the fate of the entire Spira.
If this was a fairytale, something miraculous would happen and the tide of the battle would quickly change. The problem is, this is not a fairytale. Damnit!
He slammed his fist onto the deskboard of his Captain's seat, only to see that he had slammed into a button.
Instantly, the alien sound of the Hymn of the Fayth echoed throughout the sky. He was about to turn the speakers off when he noticed something. The Sinscales and the Sinspawn were no longer moving. In fact, the Sinscales had all closed up to their "capsule" form and were plummeting to the ground in droves.
"What the…" he muttered.
"Of course!" yelped Brother excitedly, "The kid said his old man was Sin and his old man liked this song, so wouldn't he stop to listen or something?"
"I see…Well? What are you waiting for? Focus all firepower on the Sinspawns!" ordered Cid
There was a flurry of affirmatives over the radio as the surface of Sin was alight with firepower. Surprisingly, the Sinspawn didn't react to being attacked. They seemed to have lost a great amount of vitality and quickly fell to the Al-Bhed's guns.
"Ready the Big Freakin' Guns(Earlier referred to as the BFGs)! We're gonna blast that whale to kingdom come!" ordered Cid.
The armor around the bottom part of the Airship slowly opened up revealing two monstrous lance-like positron beam cannons. Rainbow-colored bolts danced around the lance-tips as the beam cannon charged up. Then, when at the peak of its charge, it fired.
A brilliant streak of energy shrieked across the sky, slamming itself fully home into Sin's gargantuan body. Sin gave a shrill call in pain and plummeted to the ground, landing in the sea near Bevelle, kicking up waves which gushed in every direction.
As the airship descended, the full extent of the damage became clear. There was a massive hole on Sin's body, big enough for the Airship to go in. That was their entrance.
We've done our part Yuna. Now, it's all up to you.
A/N: That sapped me out…So we're gonna skip forth to Seymour, as in the Seymour in Sin, on the stage like thingy. The last time you're gonna see him in this Fic anyway…
"Ah Lady Yuna, so nice you could join me," smirked Seymour.
"Yevon, you don't give up do you?" commented Tidus, giving Seymour the get-outta-my-way-or-you'll-eat-my-steel look.
"Of course I don't. Where would the world be if everyone quit?" he replied brilliantly.
"Kimahri give you choice! Move or die!" roared Kimahri.
His answer was too smart to be his own, "I confer with death itself, what could you possibly do to harm me?"
"Seymour," asked Rikku, "Did you think of all those answers?"
"No, not really, Tromell thought of them and wrote them down on this piece of paper," he produced a crumple piece of paper from the folds of his robe and waved it about above his head.
"That explains it," muttered Yuna.
"So what you got Seymour?" questioned Wakka, "Another fuel guzzling contraption that looks like crap?"
"I got this!" he announced excitedly, producing yet another remote control from his robe. Upon pushing the sole red button on the console, a great roar of engines droned out all the eerie sounds echoing within the hollow shell of Sin.
Then, it descended.
A great black mech slammed onto the ground, shaking the earth violently. It was immense, and the party looked at it in awe. The only word that could be used to describe it was: majestic. Wait a minute, nearly majestic. Only one thing ruined the entire work of art. The teddy bear head.
Trying to ignore the head, Tidus' eyes darted around the mech, looking for strengths to avoid and weaknesses to exploit. It had eight immense shoulder mounted cannons, an additional three on its torso and to finish it off, each one of its fingers was a gun. It had four more rail guns attached to its hips and seemed to had rocket launchers concealed under every piece of its armour.
"Meet Mini Pooky!" introduced Seymour.
"We already met him," corrected Lulu.
"No, you're wrong. The one you met on Gagazet was the Mini Pooky X2000. This is the Mini Pooky X2001!" he replied.
"What should we do Auron?" Rikku asked.
"Nothing, we'll wait for him to run outta gas," he answered.
"Ah! The Mini Pooky X2001 is nuclear powered, meaning it doesn't run out of gas," Seymour remarked very matter-of-factly.
"Plan B?" Rikku asked again.
"Still wait, he won't make it into the cockpit," Auron answered again.
"I beat you to it!" exclaimed Seymour, "I installed this pulley here."
He grabbed onto a wire and was slowly raised up towards the cockpit. Still, despite this new device, he still hit his head onto something every time he tried to get up. Thankfully the Mini Pooky X2001 was nuclear powered, if not it would, like its predecessor, have run out of gas. Seymour still took half an hour to get into the cockpit.
"Now let's fight!"
It wasn't long before the clear victor emerged. Seymour was just too powerful in his new toy. Lulu, Wakka, Rikku and Tidus were all sprawled on the floor, battered and exhausted. No matter what they threw at the machine, it seemed to have no effect. The monster's armour was too thick.
Maybe the fight wasn't a fair one. Auron and Kimahri didn't take part at all. They were defending Yuna from the marauding energy bolts that would have vapourized her in an instant.
Yuna tried to call the Aeons, but strangely, they didn't respond.
"Sir Auron, you turning into a fiend now will be useful," she muttered in between pants and gasps for breath.
"I can't! I sense the Farplane nearby. If I transform here, I'll get sent!" he yelled back in reply, casting a Sentinel spell to ward off another energy bolt.
"Yevon! What we gonna do then?" Yuna cried.
Then, Seymour stopped his barrage.
"Ha ha! I have beaten you all in fair combat! I am now the strongest in Spira! I am Sin's chosen! None shall stand before us!" he declared.
Slowly, Tidus picked himself up from the floor.
I will not be beaten by this weakling!
He stumbled to his feet.
I will defeat him!
Painfully, he limped towards Seymour.
This bastard won't get away!
He gave Seymour a glare that drove right to the back of his skull. Instantly, Seymour knew Tidus meant business.
Tidus then turned back to address Yuna, "I'm sorry Yuna. Since Bahamut told me what actually happened on Gagazet, I swore not to use it ever, in hopes of not hurting you. But this bastard has forced me."
With that, Tidus threw back his head and gave a blood curling scream as his entire body felt as if it was being impaled by a thousand knives.
Bahamut's words instantly made sense to Yuna, "Tidus! No!"
These were the last words she uttered before slipping into unconsciousness.
When Seymour saw Tidus get up despite the beating he took, he got freaked out. Tidus' glare didn't help either. Now, Tidus has disappeared. What was in his place was a demon. It stared hard at him with its red demonic eyes; he could feel his life force and his will to fight getting drained away. Then, the demon disappeared.
"Huh?" he muttered to himself.
Then, the mech was shaken, as if something had struck it hard on the back. Turning around, Seymour realized that in the blink of an eye, Tidus had managed to get behind him and strike.
Tidus then started his frenzied barrage. In one mighty swing, the mech's arm was sliced clean off. Seymour fired blindly in the general direction if Tidus, only to find that bhis weapons had been decommissioned. Tidus had sliced them all off.
He tried desperately to control the mech, but it was no use. Tidus was striking too fast, too hard and at too many areas. Then with a mighty kick, the mech slammed onto the ground with a deafening crash.
Seymour then looked on in horror as the airborne Tidus curled into a ball, concentrating a ball of demonic energy in front of him. Then, uncurling himself in one quick motion, he leashed the ball of energy onto Seymour. The great orb slammed into the mech's nuclear reactor, causing a great explosion that blinded all of the party.
When the flash died down, all that was left of the mech was a smoldering, charred heap of ruins. Somewhere in the heap was the body of Seymour. No one could have survived that explosion.
Slowly, Yuna began to come round.
"Wha…What happened," she muttered, looking around, she saw the great heap pf metal, "Where's Tidus!" she shrieked.
"Right here…" came a weak reply.
Tidus slowly limped towards the party, using his sword as a walking stick. Then, his legs gave way, but he was caught instantly by the strong arms of Kimahri.
Auron then motioned for Kimahri to rest Tidus against a piece of the mech.
"What in Yevon's name happened," he asked, glaring at Tidus menacingly.
"It's a long story," he replied before exploding into a series of coughs.
"We've got time," replied Auron.
"Fine…" then, he started his fascinating tale on how he got his powers and about Bahamut's instructions and advice to him.
"It seems that the prophecy was true after all," gasped Lulu.
"What prophecy?" asked Tidus.
"It is said that there a half man, half Aeon will destroy Sin forever. We thought it might have been a summoner or something, but we never expected you…" she was cut of by Wakka.
"Of course! The Rebellion! It said that its wielder would bring the eternal calm!" he exclaimed.
"Lets not jump to conclusions," said Tidus as he got up.
"One thing though. You said the more you use it, the more Yuna will become closer to dying right?" asked Auron.
"Erm…Yeah," he replied.
"Use your powers as a last resort. The last thing we want is the cycle to be renewed."
The party left the sea of sorrow and proceeds over to the great Tower of Death. They were to preoccupied by Tidus and his new powers to notice a swarm of pyreflies gathering together amongst the charred ruins of the Mini Pooky X2001.
The pyreflies slowly formed up, until they took the shape of…Seymour.
"Mwahahaha! I told them that they could not do anything to me! I am Sin's chosen! I am the evil of evils! I am despair embodied! I am Seymour, darkness incarnate-" Seymour's self-declaration of supreme rulership over nothingness was abruptly ended by a sharp pain in his torso.
Something had stabbed him in the stomach. Something really familiar. He had felt this before, but where? And when?
Then, a weird shroud in front of him flashed slightly, before revealing what it concealed.
It was the Big Bad Wolf.
Seymour wanted to scream, but a slight twist of Dachande's wrists silenced him.
"Mommy…" was all he could mutter, before slipping into total, eternal darkness.
The party was about to enter the Tower of Death when Tidus suddenly had the feeling that after he entered this place, he wouldn't exit.
He wanted to see this wonderful place once again, just once.
He'd met so many great people here, the party, the Aurochs, the Al-Bhed…If he was gonna disappear after they thrashed his old man, he'd disappear. He didn't wanna leave without saying goodbye. Reluctantly, he spoke what was in his heart.
"Yuna. If you don't mind, can we fly about Spira again?" he asked.
"Why? We're already so close," replied Rikku.
"After we defeat Sin, everything will change. This will be our last chance to see Spira as it originally was," remarked Auron.
"Very well," said Yuna, "Get Cid to bring down the airship."
"You know as well as I do that after we thrash Jecht you'll disappear, don't you?" whispered Auron.
"Yeah, that's why I wanna see Spira again," replied Tidus.
"So, you've become attached to Spira I see. Like father like son."
A/N: In the bridge of the Airship. They are currently over the Calm Lands.
Cid was grumbling Yuna's decision to take a tour before dealing the final blow. Although she did have a point, Sin wasn't going anywhere anyway.
Then, the radar detected something weird.
"Father! We got something strange right below us!" called Brother.
"You sure it's not the electrical storm that's cranking out our radar?" he asked, taking note of the black clouds gathering and blocking out the sunlight.
"Positive, if it can work in the Thunder Plains, it should be able to works here," was the reply, "Sphere Oscilo Finder's bringing it up now."
What was displayed was a great beast over two meters tall. It was clad from head to toe in weird machine armour and had weapons sprouting out of every available space.
"That's-" Brother was cut off.
"The creature from Gagazet," said Yuna coldly.
"He wants me," announced Tidus, "I'll go fight."
"But Tidus-" Yuna wanted to protest, but Tidus was already suited up and had opened the Airship hatch.
"Don't stop me Yuna, I've made up my mind. No more fun and games. I'll kill this bastard today, or I'll die trying."
With that, Tidus leapt out the hatch. Yuna tried to give chase and was intent on grabbing him and pulling him back, but all she heard was a blood curling scream.
Then, she blacked out.
A/N: Doesn't this just scream final fight scene ahead? If it doesn't, I've not done my job well enough... Anyway I always play a fool for the preview of the next chapter, but since this'll be the last time I'm doing it, I'll take it seriously this time.
The two greatest forces from two planetsare on a collision course. There will be no rules, no limits. Nothing will be held back. All boundaries will be broken. Both will enter the arena of death, but only one will emerge alive. The final battle beckons.