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Chapter 18: Forces Collide

Lightning flashed. Thunder roared. Raindrops pelted down relentlessly on the grassy plains of the Calm Lands. A lone figure strode forward to meet his destiny. The sound of his footsteps seemed to hammer at his ears like pile drivers, and he couldn't hear anything else.

As he continued walking, he remembered. Remembered the pain and suffering of the ceremony of the Final Aeon, the burning sensation and bone-deep chill of a hand being cut off, the raw agony of transformation.

Tidus clenched his Machina hand into a fist. He knew that this battle could very well be his last.

Either way, he had a score to settle.

As he climbed over a small hill, his foe came into sight. Dachande was standing in the rain, undaunted by the pouring sheets of water pelting down mercilessly upon him.

As Tidus strode forward until they were standing a few meters apart, Dachande reached over onto his right shoulder (or was it the left?) and pulled off his plasmacaster, discarding it onto the ground. He did the same for his smart disc, speargun, and bandolier of traps.

Tidus got the message and threw Ebony& Ivory onto the ground as well as his shotgun.

Dachande examined his opponent's new form. There were several similarities to the form in which his prey had fought him at Mt. Gagazet, but there were a few added features as well.

For starters, the white streaks along its appendages now seemed to literally glow with power. It now had a raging red-colored battle aura surrounding it, and if he increased his mask's optical magnification enough, he could see that there was an extreme shimmering effect around it.

It seemed as though the very fabric of reality was bending around it. Dachande dismissed these details as minor. The fight came first.

Both opponents pulled out their main melee weapons, Tidus with the Caladbolg, and Dachande with his Combistick.

This ends today. Tidus thought as he and Dachande charged straight at each other. Both of them lacked subtlety, only brute force was used in this fight.

Tidus expertly parried Dachande's first stab, and he countered with three quick but weak stabs of his own. Dachande's armor suffered the brunt of the attack, allowing a quick recovery from the blows.

Dachande swung his Combistick violently at Tidus' head, but Tidus quickly crouched under the blow, the swing passing harmlessly over him. While he rose from his crouch, Tidus took the chance to land another two quick hits while Dachande tried to recover from his missed swing.

Suddenly, the Combistick came flying out of nowhere and Tidus instinctively raised his left arm to ward off the blow. As he quickly pushed the Combistick away, he jumped backwards when Dachande's wristblades came swinging at him from below.

Another swing, and Tidus raised the Caladbolg in a defensive position to deflect the Combistick. He quickly countered with a high thrust, one that Dachande easily parried. Tidus blocked another two strikes, but a failed attempt at a stab to Dachande's head cost him a brutal blow to his chest as Dachande countered.

Tidus immediately blocked the following stab to his head and lashed out with the Caladbolg, scoring a slight hit to Dachande's shoulder. Then, his enhanced senses, combined with the adrenaline rush he received, slowed the world down, and he could see Dachande's right arm thrusting forward, wristblades extended, in slow-motion.

He grabbed his arm, pushed it aside, and brought his left leg up in a sudden kick that caught Dachande in the stomach, stunning him for half a second.

Half a second was all Tidus needed. He immediately launched himself into a flurry of devastating stabs that struck Dachande over and over.

Quickly recovering from the strikes, Dachande swung his Combistick again at Tidus' head. Tidus easily ducked under that blow, then used Dachande's own move against him, swinging the Caladbolg at his neck.

Dachande ducked under the blow, and gathered his strength. With his powerful arms charged with energy, he brought the Combistick swinging downward with massive crushing force. Little did he know that Tidus did the very same.

The two weapons impacted with such great force that both combatants were propelled backward several feet, their weapons flying out of their hands and away.

Tidus flipped around in mid-air and landed gracefully on his feet. He quickly glanced up just in time to see Dachande plow straight into the ground, sending up several tons of earth and soil. A moment later, he shot out of the miniature crater that he had created, jetpacks roaring. Tidus took to the air using his own demonic wings.

The two slammed into each other with titanic force, forcing the air and rain away from their position, creating a sphere of vacuum.

Then the sphere collapsed upon itself, and the air returned and the rain resumed pelting.

It was all Tidus could do to hold on to Dachande's armor and not let go, but Dachande was raining blows down upon him and he couldn't do anything about it. Just as he was about to let go and launch a viscous counter, Dachande grabbed him by the neck and gave such a hard head butt that Tidus was knocked silly for a few seconds.

It was in that few seconds that Dachande had whirled around and threw Tidus over his shoulder, sending him crashing through a nearby cliff wall. (You know, those cliffs at the side of the Calm Lands?)

Tidus felt a wall first crack, then shatter beneath his incredibly strong back, but the numerous stalactites and stalagmites in the cavern that he just crashed into did what the wall couldn't. As Tidus landed on the floor and skidded to a halt, Dachande aimed for the hole and set his jetpacks to turbo mode.

Quickly getting back onto his feet, Tidus saw Dachande hurtling toward him at incredible speed. Reflexively, he jumped upward and brought his legs up to his chest. Dachande missed him by a millimeter, and he shot into the cavern, looping around a stalagmite and coming to a slow halt.

Across the cavern, Tidus quickly brought himself up onto the same level as Dachande and set his arms into a ready position. They both hovered a few feet above the ground for a few moments, analyzing each other's battle stances.

Tidus couldn't see nor sense any emotion behind the faceless mask that his opponent wore, but he knew that Dachande was pissed, because of the way that the 'eyes' of the mask were fixated on him and only him, he could figure that he might be dead in the next ten seconds.

Well, that's not gonna happen. Not in this lifetime. Tidus thought to himself as he back flipped and dug both feet into the wall, just above the hole that he made.

The sheer force of the kick-jump that Tidus pulled off created a literal spider-web of cracks in the cavern wall, and Tidus launched himself at Dachande. And Dachande did the same. Once again, the two impacted with such great force that both were sent flying backwards several feet.

Dachande had the fortune of merely landing roughly on his back, while Tidus had to endure the grueling impact of crashing through several stalactites before slamming back into the center of the spider-web pattern that he had created and falling to the floor. He tried to land on his feet, but the fight had weakened him to such an extent that the moment his feet touched the floor, his knees buckled and he collapsed.

Dachande readily endured his bone-crunching impact against the floor, and quickly scrambled to his feet. He saw his prey still lying facedown on the floor and struggling to get up.

"GET UP! I'm not finished with you yet!" Dachande roared in his native tongue. He didn't expect Tidus to respond, but as though he had understood, he spat out the blood in his mouth and steadily got up, striking a pose with the outermost four fingers of his outstretched hand bent inward.

The signal just simply screamed Bring it on, bitch.

Dachande allowed himself a small grin of satisfaction behind his mask, and then charged forward.

Tidus feinted a left hook, and while Dachande raised his arm to block the fake blow, Tidus threw quick lightning-fast kicks in rapid succession before launching himself into the air and throwing all his strength behind the reverse mid-air roundhouse that landed on Dachande's neck.

Once again throwing himself into the air, Tidus spun himself in a wheel-like motion, both legs swinging at Dachande's head. Dachande ducked under the two blows and was about to launch a counter when Tidus threw yet another roundhouse as he landed on the ground, forcing Dachande to duck again.

The fight continued like this for the next few minutes, Tidus attacking with such speed and vigor, always keeping Dachande on the defensive, never giving him a chance to strike back.

Gradually, the speed and power of Tidus' blows increased, moving from two blows per second to five blows per second, until he finally overloaded Dachande's defense.

So Dachande used his defense to attack.

Parrying one of Tidus' punches, he extended his wristblades and blocked another of Tidus blows with his wristblade arm. Then, sliding it forward, he carved twin gashes that were both deep and wide in Tidus left arm.

Tidus bit back the cry of pain and retreated for a split second before plunging back into the fray. He threw his left fist forward, but Dachande caught it in a hold and attempted to flip Tidus onto the ground.

Tidus caught his balance in mid-air, landed gracefully on his feet and wrenched his arm out of Dachande's grip. Using his momentum, he swung his right arm forward, the hook catching Dachande on the side of his face and stunning him for a moment.

Tidus used that moment to throw three solid kicks, the first hitting Dachande's neck, the second stunning him even further in the stomach, and the final one hitting him in the face with such force that his mask was thrown out of alignment.

Tidus took a moment to bask in the glory of his momentary victory, then he swung his still-raised leg back and forth, hitting Dachande's face again and again until the mask came loose.

This was the first time that Tidus was able to take a clear glimpse of the Predator's face beneath the mask.

"You're one ugly motherfucker." Tidus muttered before spinning around and delivering one final, brutal kick that sent Dachande through the wall, creating another hole that was right next to the one that Tidus had created.

Hurtling horizontally back into the Calm Lands, Dachande activated his jetpacks and slowed his flying down until he came to an unsteady halt. Since he had lost his mask, he squinted through the rain and barely managed to see Tidus staring straight at him through the hole.

Bracing himself for impact, Dachande pushed his jetpacks to full throttle and shot forward. Tidus jumped out of the hole and, with one mighty flap of his demonic wings, transformed into a red-black blur that the Dachande found nearly impossible to track.

The two slammed into each other, creating another of the vacuum spheres, then they slammed back together.

This time, Tidus did not try to hold on. Instead, he focused on keeping his ground while blocking Dachande's blows and countering with his own. The altitude of the battle literally increased gradually, until the duelists had risen above the clouds and now did battle in the sky.

The two wrestled around in mid-air, trying to toss the other away for a few seconds before disengaging and circling around each other, rising higher still. Dachande threw himself forward with a viscous three-punch combo. Tidus managed to block the first two, but the last punch, which was a brutal uppercut, cut under his defense sent him tumbling up and away from his opponent, flipping end over end.

Quickly reorienting himself, he thrust out both arms to ensure balance, and then blasted forward like a rocket. Dachande braced himself to parry what he assumed were oncoming punches, but Tidus had another attack in mind.

Raising his legs upward, Tidus' kicks flew over Dachande's low defense and struck him in the head thrice. Now it was Dachande's turn to be send tumbling away in mid-air.

Several seconds and seven flips later, Dachande threw out his left arm and balanced himself. Gathering his strength and bracing himself for impact, he set his jetpacks into overdrive, blasting forward at a speed comparable to Tidus'.

Tidus saw the incredibly fast blur coming straight for him and knew that the next blow he dealt might decide the outcome of the fight. If his counter was strong enough, he might be able to turn the tables, but his strength was already taxed to its limits, and he didn't know how much longer he could last.

He readied himself and, when Dachande was about to slam into him, he lashed out with all his strength.

"I don't know where they are. I lost them." Rikku admitted in defeat after several minutes of scanning the Calm Lands in vain with her binoculars.

"You lost them!" Wakka exclaimed. "How could you possible lose them? This is as good as saying Tidus has already lost!"

"I don't know! I tried searching that bubble-thingy that their impact created, but I couldn't find them!" Rikku protested heatedly, resuming her frantic search of the Calm Lands.

"My gut says he's still up." Auron muttered.

"Wait! Look! Over there!" Lulu cried out in surprise.

She didn't have to point. The object of her attention was so huge that nobody could have missed it. Another vacuum sphere had formed from a tremendous impact, but this one was much larger than the previous ones. This one easily encompassed at least half the Calm Lands, and just stopped short of enveloping the airship.

Then the sphere collapsed, and Rikku immediately zoomed in on the two tiny figures that were in the center of it.

The sight the greeted her nearly made her heart stop.

No.

NO!
Tidus fell downward with grace of a swan, and Dachande hovered above him, triumphant. Then he threw himself downward at Tidus, catching him and accelerating them towards the ground.

Tidus feebly attempted to break free from Dachande's grip, but the Predator's arms were like solid bands of steel.

The ground rushed up to meet them, and a huge shockwave emanated from the point of impact.

"He's down, isn't he?" Auron asked. Rikku's mouth remained closed.

"Then it is finished."

Three seconds of silence.

"No." Rikku barely managed to force the words out. The rest of the party remained silent.

"Maybe he's still alive. I saw a small pit created by the impact. Maybe he's still in there, still fighting."

"Very well." Auron said. "Cid, bring us closer so we can view what's going on inside that pit."

Rikku kept her binoculars trained on the pit, never moving her view from it, until she could see what was inside. Her hopes of Tidus still being alive went down the drain when she saw what was inside.

Pain. Pain everywhere. Tidus opened his eyes, only to be greeted with more pain. Forcing the pain out of his awareness, he dimly noted that Dachande was standing over him, fists clenched and wristblades extended.

Weakly rolling over onto his stomach, he feebly tried to crawl away, only to realize that he was trapped in a pit of some sort. Well, if he couldn't get some respite, then he would make do without it.

Struggling to his feet and leaning against the pit wall for support, he saw Dachande coming straight for him, wristblades raised. Preparing himself for the most desperate fight of his life, Tidus threw his arms upward to block the blows that rained downed upon him.

Left hook, left block. Right hook, right block. Low uppercut… Okay, that was unexpected. Tidus doubled over with pain from the blow, but he quickly regained his wits and blocked the second right hook Dachande sent at him.

Another left hook, but the block that Tidus performed wasn't feeble, but solid and unbelievably strong, backed by raw willpower.

Then, with supernatural strength, he parried with such force that the raindrops near their hands were expelled away, and Tidus right fist flew forward, splattering raindrops in its wake. The fist made contact with Dachande's face, and Tidus relished the sound of bones being broken.

Dachande was knocked silly by the blow, and he stumbled about for a bit, trying to regain his wits. Tidus made good use of Dachande's stumbling, as a disoriented target was an easy target.

Both fists impacted on Dachande's armor, shattering it and propelling him straight into the pit wall, where the force of the blow dug him several feet into it.

The adrenaline rush wearing off, Tidus stumbled on his feet and nearly collapsed. His arms fell to his sides like rubber tubes, and they hung loosely. Slowly looking up, he could see the Airship slowly coming towards him.

That was for you, Yuna. This fight is over. Tidus thought to himself.

Then, rumbling caught his attention. Rumbling that was coming from the hole that Dachande had created.

Or… maybe not. Oh shit…

Dachande erupted from the hole, roaring madly, flying straight at Tidus.

Already weakened by the extensive fighting, Tidus could do nothing to stop the Predator from slamming into him with incredible force, forcing them both to the ground.

Tidus exhaled explosively as Dachande slammed into him, and the impact against the ground only made things worse. Forcing his eyes open, he saw for a split second Dachande with his fist raised, lightning flashing against the background. Then the fist came down and Tidus' world exploded into stars for a moment.

In that moment, Dachande had hauled Tidus to his feet and now held him in the air by his throat. Tidus clawed weakly at the arm that held him, but it was no use. Another savage punch, and Tidus world vanished in an explosion of red.

Dachande watched with satisfaction as his prey's limp body slid across the ground and hit the opposite wall of the pit. He strode forward, intent on extracting his trophy, when he realized that the battle aura surrounding his prey was no longer red, but white.

Slowly, Tidus' body floated into the air, until he was hovering several feet above the ground. Then, the aura ceased to emanate. Tidus' eyes opened, but instead of their usual sapphire blue, they were now a dazzling gold. Suddenly, the streaks along its appendages flared with power, then dimmed, and a sphere of white energy formed in its right hand.

This is not good… Dachande thought to himself.

That right hand slammed the ball of energy into the ground violently, and then the ground erupted in a Volcano of energy. The sheer force of the eruption threw Dachande into the air and out of the pit, disorienting him.

Another flare, then dim, and a meteor of pure energy hit Dachande, vaporizing what little armor he had left, and inflicting third-degree burns all over his skin. Barely managing reorient himself, he found himself being slammed into the ground with a diagonal kick from Tidus.

Then, Tidus threw him into the air with a viscous uppercut, and gave him an extremely pumped up Izuna, rising up much higher than normal before slamming into the ground with a brutal impact, driving nearly all the life out of the Predator.

This was definitely not in the plan… Dachande realized that he was beaten. Now, he had only one thing left to do.

Tidus landed lightly on his feet, and the adrenaline wore off, allowing him to regain his senses. Shaking his head to clear his vision, he noticed Dachande lying on the ground, inputting something into the gadget on his wrist.

What the heck's he doin'? Tidus thought to himself. Then, Dachande started laughing. Tidus shuddered at the sound of it. He knew that laugh. It was his.

Then, he noticed a strange beeping coming from the wrist computer.

That can't be good. Oh shit…Spinning around on his heel, he dashed away from his opponent. When he had built up enough speed, he took to the air, beating his demonic wings madly in a desperate bid to clear the blast zone of the self-destruct in time.

No such luck. Even as he transformed into a supersonic roar that blasted across the Calm Lands, the blast was gaining on him. He pushed on even further, accelerating past the point of Mach 2, but it still wasn't fast enough. The wall of fire made contact with him, and after that, he disappeared into the fireball.

"Any sign of him yet?"

"Not yet."

"What's the point of searchin' for him? Nothing could've survived that explosion, ya? How can he still be alive?"

"Shut it, Wakka. Remember that Yuna can hear you."

"Oh. Right. Sorry, Yuna."

"Wakka, shut it."

Wakka keyed off his walkie-talkie and bent down further. He scrutinized thecharred piece of metaleven more closely.

"Whaddya know?" He muttered to himself after he identified the object as what appeared to be a telescope. Noticing a button on what seemed to be the handguard, he asked himself the question every fool asked themselves why not? and pushed the button. Thank goodness his face wasn't near either end of the object, because blades suddenly extended from both sides.

"Interesting. I oughta hand this to those Al Bhed scientists. They'll know what to do with it."

Pushing the button again and retracting the blades, he stowed it in his pocket and resumed his search. His walkie-talkie crackled for a few seconds with static, then Auron's voice came on the line.

'This is aimless wandering is pointless. Everyone, meet at the epicentre of the explosion. Then we'll decide what to do next."

Rikku stared in awe at the huge crater located at the epicentre of the explosion. "This kind of crater would've taken truckloads of explosives, maybe even a nuclear bomb! How could that... thing have possibly created this?"

Yuna didn't care whether the crater was made by truckloads of explosives, or a nuclear bomb. All she cared about was Tidus, and finding him.

"Okay, everyone. Pick a direction, and search in that direction. If our search pattern is thourough enough, we should find him." Auron said. Rikku realized that Auron had left out the words 'or his body'.

Orienting themselves all in different directions, they departed from the crater.

"I FOUND HIM!" Those three words were music to Yuna's ears. In an instant, the walkie-talkie was next to her ear like a cellphone, and she was asking where.

Rikku had marked her position with a flare, so as to let the party know where she was. Everyone immediately converged on her position, intent on finding out how Tidus was.

What none of them expected to find was the charred and blackened body that appeared to be a corpse lying at Rikku's feet. The only sure way of knowing it was Tidus' was the blonde hair that grew at the top of mass of black.

"Sorry, Yunie. Looks like he's... dead." Those six words crushed Yuna's heart, burnt it, and fed her its ashes. She burst into tears and fell to her knees.

Nevertheless, Lulu still wanted to be absolutely sure of it. Putting her hand on his neck, she searched for a pulse.

"No. He's still alive."

Well, sorry for the long delay, but I've been suffering from a brief spell of Mapleholism, the state of being a Maple Story Mapleholic. Also, don't expect another chapter coming soon after this, because we've got common tests and exams coming up. Once again, we apologize for the delay.