Act one: Suspicion
Chapter 2: The Roar of Vengeance
Link woke up the next morning to the sound of a stranger's voice. As the sat up and rubbed the last bits of sleep from his eyes he noticed the person who woke him and jumped back a bit (if you could call it that, as he was sitting down). He was a half man, half fox hybrid, with brown fur all over his body (despite this, he was wearing human clothing) and a face exactly like a foxes. He was standing on two legs, but besides that the only physical features he could tell that wasn't almost entirely fox-like were his opposable thumbs.
Link quickly calmed down a bit and said, "I'm sorry, that was rude of me"
"Naw, don't worry about it. I would have been started if you were the first thing I saw in the morning too. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm your roommate, Fox McCloud. Your Link, right?"
"Yeah, that's me. It's nice to meet you Fox."
"I wanted to tell you that your fight is gonna be starting early this morning so you might want to wake up early too."
"Err, yeah thank you…..Fox, right?. Anyways, I'm going to get ready, do you know what we supposed to do for breakfast here?"
"This cabin's stocked with food, I was just about to make eggs, you want some?"
"Sure, thank you."
Later that day, Link and Fox were at the stadium, so Link could introduce him to Cloud and the others. It was a large, round stadium similar to the main one, only a bit smaller. However as Link got closer he noticed a few other differences. The stadium had multiple relieves engraved into its exterior, most noticeably a gigantic turtle at the top. Finally there was a bit of writing on top of the main entrance, "Genmu Stadium".
"Hey, Link!", yelled the familiar voice of Cloud. He was accompanied by everyone from yesterday, including Vaan.
"Hey, Cloud. Hey guys." He said as Fox and himself walked over to them "Oh! Err.. this is Fox McCloud. He's my roommate and I thought I would introduce him."
After formalities were over Chrono spoke up in his usual, passive tone, "It looks like the stadium's filling up, you better get going."
" That's right. By the way," Link added, turning to Fox. "When is your fight, Fox."
"Right after yours. I'm going second"
"Wait, doesn't that mean I'm fighting you in the second round?" asked Link.
"Yeah, I guess it does."
A bit of awkward silence passed before Link finally said, "Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'll see you all in a bit." Then he ran off towards the field.
As Link walked toward the ring, he felt the familiar presence of Ganondorf lurking nearby and calmly called out to him. Ganondorf matched Link voice with his movements as he moved out of the shadows. Ganondorf was, quite frankly, big. He was a great deal larger then Link, and the giant broad sword he always carried around with him was twice the size of Link's prized Master Sword. He was wearing the studded leather portion of his black-as-night armor and a torn cape, making him seem even fiercer then his size did already. Finally, and most importantly, were his Gerudo borne dark green skin and fiery orange hair.
"What do you want, Gannon?" Link
"I just wanted to wish you luck." said Ganondorf. "I'm looking forward to challenging you once and for all for the crown of Hyrule. Although I doubt you need it for this lowlife. Save your energy, you're going to need it."
"I'll protect Hyrule from anything that seeks to hurt it, even you." said Link
Ganondorf just smiled and said "I'm sure you could, but that's why I've teamed with Sephiroth. Heaven and Hell could rise up against him and he would still win."
With that, Ganondorf cast a spell and vanished from Links sight. All Link could do was walk toward the ring and try to brush it off.
"So how do you think Links going to do?" Vaan asked Cloud.
"It will be an easy fight."
"I wish I was as confident as you. AiAi has a great resume for this. I know Link one the tournament last year but-"
"I've seen AiAi type. I doubt there will even be a real battle."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't know Link like I do, just wait."
Link listened to the announcer talk about him and his opponent as he walked to the stadium.
"Welcome to the first fight of this year's 'Best beyond the Stars' tournament. My name is Kuja Lansford and I will be announcing tournament rulings to the players and the audience in the stands as well as describe the fights to those at home, or couldn't get to the stadium under the new seating rules.
I could go on about myself but I'm sure your more interested in these competitors. Let's go into their bios.
First off is last years winner, Link; a 1st seed. Link, or as he is known to his fans The Hyrulian Knight, is the winner of the last tournament, and is back to defend his crown. Speaking of which, I should also mention the fact the he is the Unofficial leader of Hyrule's main race, the Hylians, which have been trying to crown him king, despite his unusual reluctance to accept. I don't know why he denies the crown of Hyrule, but he has still done some great work in the position he's in.
Next we have the Bubble Fist of Afrkia, AiAi; a 16th seed. He is the world champion of his world and a master of a form of magic called Induced Tension Transmutation. I don't know exactly what it is, but from his title, I have a few suspicions."
As he was talking, Link noticed that the ring itself has about a dozen large rocks on it. "So that's what he meant by 'slight differences.'" he thought to himself.
The announcer had finished his announcements and Link noticed his opponent on the opposite side of the stadium. He was raggedy and savage. He was wearing a smirk on his face that Link couldn't help but cringe at. It was obvious to Link that he was one of those overconfident fools that Cloud had made a note of the previous day.
"Begin!" yelled the announcer, which caught the distracted Link slightly off guard. Then the first fight of the second annual "Best Beyond the Stars" tournament began.
Instead of charging at him, like Link expected, the monkey man walked a little closer to him and said. "This is the winner of last year's fights? I'm not impressed. You're just a generic knight with a dingy sword." Link stood there perfectly expressionless as he loosely held his sword in his hand and took his comments. "The great Hyrulian Knight, What a joke. Do you know who I am?"
"No."
"Figured as much. Let me fill you in. I am the great AiAi, The Bubble Fist of Afrkia. I have perfectly mastered the art of the force of nature known as surface tension. I can create bubble's from the moister in the air. You might think that's silly, but I can add as much moisture to one bubble as a want, making them much stronger then normal.
On top of that, I can send them flying anywhere at hundred miles an hours. You won't even get close to me, and even if you did…well, let's just say there's a reason for the 'Fist' in my title.
You think you are so much more then you are, but in truth, you are weak. You are a weakling and I will take you out of this fight in a second."
Link started laughing, much to the distaste of AiAi. In a rage he summoned a giant bubble. He launched it at link at an incredible speed, with bloodlust in his eyes and a determination to humiliate the former champ. The bubble didn't even touch Link.
1 As the bubble burst toward him at an unbelievable velocity, Link didn't even look at it. He felt the hatred of his opponent in it, and can tell where it is without thinking. As another bubble of clarity burst in his heart, he reacted on a defense reflex. A shield of energy incased Link and popped the bubble with ease. It's a reflex; it took no effort. Another bubble, this one of concentration formed in his soul, and for the first time, he directly addressed AiAi.
"I am a warrior, both in body and mind and I am one with this blade. It's an extension of my heart and soul. To insult it is to insult me. To call me weak like you are is a petty mind game, played only by true weaklings. If you're truly powerful you would not need to insult your opponent."
He waved his sword around and truly showed it to AiAi. He poured his heart and feelings into his blade. It became a part of him, and he became the blade. With his blade and soul synchronized like this, the blade shone with a bright yellow light. It was a luminescent masterpiece of the craft, with a blade made from a blend of silver and titanium.
The hilt was built from sky metal, and was every color at once. Purples, greens, blues, and reds all melded together in a way that it was indiscernible where one color began and another color ended. To anyone how saw it, it was a magnificent work of art, and it was a part of him as much as the hand that held it.
Then Link began to move towards AiAi.
Link's focused and cool expression greatly contrasted the gnarling and growingly panicked look of AiAi. Link walked forward in a way that made it seem like each step had a millennia's worth of power in it. It was then that AiAi truly knew what Link was: a human typhoon.
It was Link's masterpiece, and it was what got him Ganondorf's respect. Behind his chivalrous exterior was the raw confidence that it was indiscernible from cock-eyed optimism, until you see it walking to you. When you look at Link like this, it seems as though he is standing between you and the rest of the universe. All you can do is beg, and hope that his chivalry is more then just an act. Link knew this, and that's why he knew he won this fight the moment he stepped onto the field.
"I don't want to waste my blade on you. So I will make a deal with you." Link said calmly. AiAi nodded and Lick continued, "If I am wrong about you, you win this fight. If I am right, you surrender. It's actually very simple." He finally stopped walking, much to AiAi's relief. The relief was short lived though, as Link lunged his sword at AiAi's throat, just barely stopping short.
"Look me in the eyes, and tell me I'm weak again."
AiAi look right at Link, with the sword hovering by is throat. His mentality was crushed and compressed by the sheet of cold terror that had formed due to Link. He could only chug out a "…gah…" before Link asked again.
"Well? Call me weak again! Do it!" Link was finally yelling.
AiAi collapsed on the spot, defeated. This was Link's masterpiece, the power to win without fighting. He would be on a battlefield and his presence would weaken enemies and give strength to allies. Link hated fights without purpose. Because of this power, he never had to do it again.
Link helps people with his power, and it makes him happy to do it. This is how Link sees his life, and why he does what he does.
A few minutes later Link rejoined the group. "That was amazing." Vaan said, "I followed your fights last year and you were never like that before."
"I have something to prove this time."
"What was that?"
Link very subtlety sized up Vaan again before saying "Just that I was still a force to be reckoned with to someone in the stands. Where's Fox?"
"His fight begins any second now. He wanted me to congratulate you though." said Cloud.
Almost on cue, he heard the announcer go, "BEGIN!" in his loudest possible voice. Link hadn't even noticed the announcer's pre-fight speech.
Fox's opponent was a large yellow rodent seemingly from a planet Link had never heard of. He leaped around the battlefield launching electric bolts from an alien gland and firing them at Fox. Fox very carefully leaped from each bolt until finding cover behind one of the large rocks on the battle field. After a few seconds of pounding the rock with a focused lightning strike the rock exploded. Fox leaped out from the rock just before then and fired a volley of blaster shots on the little rodent. A few direct hits ended that fight pretty quickly.
Link went down to the ring to congratulate Fox on his victory. After a few words of encouragement, Link noticed three people walking towards them. The first was a man around Link's age with blond hair and a feminine face. He was wearing some light armor and had a sword on his back. Link thought he was one of the fighters in the tournament. To the left of him was a pretty woman with a slightly pale face and dark brown hair. Link also noticed that her eyes had two different colors; one was blue, and the other green. Behind them was a man is his forties wearing red armor and sunglasses.
The blonde haired man approached Link and said, "Hey. Nice to meet you, I'm Tidus. This is my friend Auron, and my girlfriend, Yuna.
"It's a pleasure to meet you" said Yuna politely, and Auron nodded as if to give the same gesture.
"Nice to meet you too." said Link slowly. "I'm Link and this is Fox. Can we help you?"
"No, not really" said Tidus with an embarrassed laugh. You see we're all fighters in this tournament and my fight is up next. We were all walking to the ring when we saw you. I wanted to congratulate you on your incredible match."
"Oh." said Link, now starting to calm down. Then he came to a realization. "You're up next? Is your opponent named Ganondorf by any chance?"
"Err…. Yes, I think he is. Why?"
"I know Ganondorf very well. He is a powerful and dangerous warrior. Please be careful when fighting him."
"Don't underestimate me; I won my way into this contest just like everyone else. But I'll keep in mind what you said, ok? Oh, Its almost ten minutes after your match ended, I have to get going." he said, gesturing at Fox.
Link and Fox got to their seats with the others about ten floors up. They got there when Kuja was midway thru introducing the next fight.
"-an acclaimed guardian of Spiran summoners, he hopes to make an impact at this year's tournament.
Next up is the enigmatic Ganondorf Dragmire. He was born in Hyrule but his current location is unknown. Actually, Now that I'm looking at it, I don't have much of anything on him. All I know are his grades at the prelims, and that shows that we are talking about a skilled fighter.
The seedings for these two fighters were pretty close, so I would say we're in for an interesting fight, but you don't want to hear me rant on. One the count of three… One. Two. Three. BEGIN!"
2The fight began with Tidus charging at Ganondorf at full speed. When he reached him he slashed at him with all he might. Ganondorf deflected the attack but Tidus twisted his body and turned the recoil into a powerful lunge that Ganondorf just barely deflected.
"Hit and Run!" Tidus yelled as he called on a technique that had him running around and hitting his opponent at random. He jumped from left to right slashing at Ganondorf as he ran. The first 5 hits were dodged or parried. On the sixth attack Ganondorf decided to go on the offensive. He dodged Tidus' attack (which was a leap from the front this time) and swung at him with the blunt side of his broadsword. The attack hit and sent him flying a few meters before landing on his feet. He was mildly injured but he just managed to get a flesh wound on Ganondorf with his blade, much to the discomfort of Ganondorf.
Ganondorf felt the cut and touched it with is hand and took a look at the blood, to make sure it was real. He looked at it, almost curious, and then formed his bloody hand into a fist.
"Not bad, boy. You managed to get a flesh wound on me. A few more like that and I might need to use my two handed style. Keep at it, let's see where this goes."
"Works for me."
The two charged at each other, sword in attack position. They clashed in the center of the ring. It was fast and rough as the two exchanged blows, most of which were seamlessly parried. Tidus was weaker in many areas but made up for it with an incredible speed. Ganondorf theorized that he had a white magic effect on him. After a bit like this Tidus rolled around to Ganondorf's backside to try and get at him but was still deflected, leading into another bout like the first one.
Tidus didn't have the endurance that Ganondorf had, and was wearing out. He fell back and ran off to the biggest rock he could find to rest and rethink his strategy. As he nursed his wounds he heard Ganondorf yell something, which was followed by an explosion that sent Tidus to the ground.
Tidus jumped to his feet to find the rock destroyed and Ganondorf's palm out, facing it's remains. It took a second for it to sink in, but ultimately he figured it out.
"You're a warlock!"
Without a response, Ganondorf began an onslaught of magic attacks. Balls of thunder, fire, dark energy, and much more burst out of Ganondorf's hands at his will. Tidus desperately avoided each blast, but each hit came closer then the last. Explosions happened left and right as the stadium around Tidus was torn asunder.
"Luminus!" Ganondorf called out, and a ball of lightning zipped from Ganondorf to Tidus. Tidus jumped back but was hit on his side by a second spell that sent him to the ground.
Tidus got up, this time looking a little worse for wear. Suddenly, he had an idea.
He let his aura overtake him and move to his fingertips, chanting "slow, slow, slow." as a mantra in his head. He released that power at Ganondorf who was caught off guard.
"So it is Time Magic!" Ganondorf exclaimed as the spell took hold of him. He was a powerful enough mage to shake off the spell, but it would take a few seconds, and Tidus was not wasting any time.
"Quick Hit!" Tidus yelled, as he ran towards Ganondorf with magically enhanced speed. As Ganondorf struggled with the time spell, Tidus decided to try to finish it in one attack. Tidus prepared his Blitz Ace attack and reached Ganondorf just as he freed him self from the slow spell. Ganondorf was free but couldn't straighten himself out completely in time for the attack. He just barely blocked the first three attacks but hit the fourth one at a bad angle. Ganondorf's sword was sent flying and Ganondorf got the brunt of the remaining four attacks.
After the last of the eight attacks Tidus went for the "coup de grace" attack. He ducked down in front of Ganondorf And went for an easily block able uppercut punch. Then, he suddenly twisted his body around and hit Ganondorf with a hard round house to the face. Ganondorf was complete taken off guard and was sent flying into the distant wall face first. The impact left a fairly large hole in the wall, with Ganondorf lying crookedly in the rubble. End 2
3 Ganondorf slowly stood up from the wreckage. His sword still on the ground, he looked at Tidus with a fire in his eyes that made Tidus recoil. He picked up his giant sword and, for the first time in this fight, held in with both hands. Tidus charged with all his strength at Ganondorf, hoping to finish him off before he could do anything. Tidus attacked Ganondorf but he reflected the attack and pushed Tidus back a few yards. Ganondorf ran after the recovering warrior and attacked him relentlessly.
Tidus was being battered and bruised by Ganondorf's sword, which was now moving twice as fast and hitting three times as powerfully as it was before. Tidus tried to attack back but to no avail, Ganondorf was just too fast. He was a different fighter from what he was before. It was madness! His hope was fading so he took one last shot. He mustered his energy and hit Ganondorf with a delay attack. It slowed him down for a few seconds, which Tidus took to put some distance between him and Ganondorf.
Ganondorf saw this and sneered. "So then, you are going to run? Well then try to dodge this!" he said. He raised his arms and started forming a huge, horribly black spell above his head. He lifted into the air slowly as the spell took on form. Tidus could only watch horrified as Ganondorf lifted off the ground and prepared his attack. Ganondorf's levitation reached its zenith and he prepared to throw the spell. Tidus snapped himself out of his state of horror and used all his strength to jump up and slash at Ganondorf while he finished the spell. Ganondorf threw the spell at him at point blank range. It caused such a giant explosion that there would have been injuries in the stands, had there not been force fields in place.
The smoke cleared and Link saw the results of the fight. Ganondorf stood over Tidus, who looked very beat up. Ganondorf overflowed with adrenaline and stared at the half-dead Tidus in the rage. He took a few long, deep breaths in and began to approach Tidus, his sword held up high. Link stared confused for a half second before he realized that Ganondorf was going for a coup de grace attack and without thinking ran past ten rows to the stadium. He reached the banister and yelled out as loud as he could to get Ganondorf's attention.
"GANON!" he yelled, "Don't kill him, please. You've already won this fight……" Link shuddered in fear and tried to think of non-verbal ways out. In desperation he yelled out, "If you kill him you'll never get your shot at me!" Those words seemed to affect Ganondorf and he stopped for a second to consider. After what seemed like an eternity he finally dropped his sword. The fight was over and medic's rushed in to treat Tidus. Ganondorf just left, looking as nonchalant as ever. End 3
Link ran up the stairs to his seat, and took a moment to compose himself. Then he said, "I'm going to go visit Tidus in the med lab. I met him before his fight and want to make sure he's ok."
"I'll come with you." said Cloud. "If Ganondorf is allied with Sephiroth then who knows how much he could have hurt him."
"Why don't we all go, considering that in a few fights they'll be on the mid-division break?"
Everyone nodded in agreement except for Chrono who said, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to stay here. One of my closest friends is up next and I want to see him fight. I'm very sorry."
"Don't worry about it, it's ok." said Aeris.
"Thanks." Said Chrono, not really looking anyone in the eye.
Link started rushing everyone to the med lab so they all left. After they broke away from the crowd and left the stadium Link, who was in front of the others, noticed Cloud was quickening his pace to catch up to him. He caught up to Link and tilted his head slightly towards Link and said, "You shouldn't blame yourself for things Ganondorf does." Link said nothing.
The nine of them all entered the med lab, where they were told to wait in the waiting room. After about an hour of waiting, Vaan was busy introducing himself to Auron while the others did their things. Cloud brooded and Link tried comforting Yuna. Mario, Fox, and Sonic were talking franticly about the fight, trying to figure out what happened, and Aeris wandered around the room. Auron was about to say something after a short pause, but just then the doctor came in.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Jeff Frasier, the head doctor on all of Mr. Kasumi's projects. I'm happy to inform you that Tidus is going to be fine. All his bones are being mended, and he only suffered a few major injuries. You won't be able to see him today, unfortunately. He needs to sleep. You can see him tomorrow morning."
Upon hearing the good new the tension in Link seemed to lift up a bit. Everyone was feeling a bit calmer, so Cloud recommended that they go back to see the rest of the fights.
"Actually, the fights have been on break for a while now. They'll start back up around sundown." said, Dr. Frasier.
"Well, in that case let's all go find Chrono." said Vaan. Everyone agreed except Cloud who was having a whispered conversation with Aeris. Finally it stopped and the both nodded in agreement to each other. Cloud turned and said to the group, "If you don't mind, I would like to spend this time with Aeris."
"Of course. Would you two like to come with us?" he said, turning to Yuna.
"No thank you. We have other things we can do" she said, just now starting to regain her former politeness.
Everyone started to leave, but Auron pulled Vaan back and said to him quietly, "I have a favor to ask of you."
"Yeah, what is it?" Vaan said, matching Auron's tone.
"I have reason to believe that there was some suspicious activity going on during the last fight."
"What?"
"Keep your voice down." Said Auron hastily. "I want to keep this low key until I have something to go on."
"Ok… so what makes you think this?"
"I saw Ganondorf's chart, and I felt the energy in his final spell. He would have needed to have his maximum magical energy to perform it. He wasted to much on barrage of spells during the match. I also saw some strange things with the force field generators around Ganondorf when he was in the rubble. I think that someone diverted power to Ganondorf using those machines."
"But Link told me a bit before we started talking that he knew Ganondorf and that he was much stronger then Tidus. Why would he need to cheat?"
"I don't know. My theory is that Ganondorf underestimated Tidus until it was too late. Someone couldn't risk Ganondorf losing simply because he underestimated his opponent."
"Ok….I'll do what I can to help Tidus. What do you need me to do?"
"You're a friend of Sieg's right? See if you can get files on the force field generator and any personal and fighters you can. Dig through it tonight and tell me anything interesting in the morning."
"All right, I'll do it." said Vaan, and he left to catch up with the others.
Cloud and Aeris found a small park to the south of Tantalus Square where they could relax. It was large, circular field of flowers and in the center was a large tree. They laid down next to the tree and started to talk.
"It's been ten years since the end of the war of Midgar, yet he's still alive. I never should have assumed that the destruction of Midgar killed him, considering it didn't kill me." said Cloud shamefully.
"No, that's just because you're not as obsessed with killing him as you think you are. You were in a new world, and for ten years you planned to revive me, and you found a way." said Aeris.
"But if I don't win the tournament I'll lose you all over again. I need to go though Sephiroth to win this tournament; you know that just as well as I do."
"Then you'll find a way, you always do. Remember Jenora rock? You were outnumbered six to one."
"Yeah, but you came in with reinforcements, and even then..."
"You survived for two years with an injury that would have been fatal to anyone else before we found you."
"It was pure will and determination, two traits that Sephiroth prides himself on."
"You saved Midgar City from a fate a thousand times worse then what it got."
"Yeah, but I still- ", Cloud started to say, but Aeris cut him off with a deep kiss. It caught him off guard and he was tense. He wanted to argue more, he wanted her to understand how worthless his attempts were. He wanted a lot of things. However, something about being with her like this, to feel her touch, it let him relaxed. He realized that they had never really been together at all since Aeris was revived. He relaxed, and kissed back. They stayed like that for a few seconds, or minutes, or hours, he couldn't tell. Aeris pulled back and looked him straight in the face and said, "Say what you want about anything else, but never blame yourself for that. Ever."
"I won't. You're right." Cloud said with a smile.
"You know why I have faith in you? Because I don't think you're as obsessed with Sephiroth as you think you are."
Really? Why not?" said Cloud, now much calmer.
"Because it was fairly obvious that Sephiroth was alive from that blast at Midgar if you were. If you really wanted to find him you would have but instead you rationalized. You made yourself believe that he was dead so you could work on saving me."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"You're missing the point. As soon as you saw that there might be a way to revive me, you did it. You care more about the people you love then getting revenge on Sephiroth. You really are a caring person, even if you don't believe it."
"…I guess your right." said Cloud, now feeling a lot better.
"You'll see this thing through to the end, and if you remain confident in yourself I know it will all turn out for the best."
"Thank you."
Aeris smiled cheerily and said, "Don't mention it. By the way, now that I'm thinking about it, how did you manage to revive me anyways? I mean, I know you revived me with that machine, but you never told me how you came into contact with Sieg."
"Oh? Well, it's actually an interesting story. I was in the capital of Spira, the holy city of Bevelle. I was looking throughout their religion's culture to find a means of reviving you when I saw a giant battle above the city. An Airship was battling a gigantic beast above the city. Bits of the giant monster were raining down on the city and they transformed into small spawn of the monster. I battled them and helped defend the city until the giant monster fell on the city. The city at large was crushed, but luckily I was a few yards away at the time.
Then Chrono came out of the ship and jumped onto the monster, which was still alive. Then I just acted on impulse. I jumped onto that monster and helped Chrono kill it. He was so impressed with my ability to fight that we started talking while his associates cleaned up. I told him about my plight and he told me about Sieg's tournament. You see, he was going to be running a tournament soon, and Sieg had a tendency to invite people who impress him. While it wasn't an official prize, it was likely that if I did well, I would get an audience with Sieg who was, at the time, rumored to be building a machine that could do just that. So I entered last year's tournament.
I fought well and won my way into Sieg's company, and then I described my plight to him. He showed me the plans on Galatea, and we began working on it. It took the whole year, but it obviously worked."
Aeris listened to his story with interest until it was over. She occasionally asked questions, and it later evolved into a conversation, until the finally agreed to stop talking for a bit and just enjoy the time they had together.
4 A few hours passed and Aeris and Cloud stayed together for the entire time. The sun was low in the sky, but not quite setting when they saw someone coming over to them. He was a tall main with blonde hair and a ghostly pale face. His bright blue eyes were surrounded by crimson face paint that imitated tears of blood. He had a face that was reminiscent of a scary clown. He came up to Cloud and Aeris, and gave them some time to stand up before giving a very slight bow.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Kefka Palazzo. I am an apostle of Sephiroth. But you needed worry; I am not here to fight."
"What do you want?" asked cloud.
"I am merely…..a messenger." Kefka added an ever-so-subtle tinge of malice at the end.
"A message from Sephiroth? What is it?" said Aeris.
"Simply this; 'The second war has begun. Be ready.' I personally don't know what he wants to tell you this for, but Sephiroth wants what he wants."
"I wanted to tell them, Kefka, because of my desire for a fair fight." said a voice from a few meters behind Kefka. Now Sephiroth himself was walking over to them, followed by Ganondorf, and someone else. The mystery man had a demeanor about him the reminded Cloud of a dragon. His short orange hair looked blasted back and his face looked seem to have various scars and anomalies on it. His eyes were neon green and slit-like. His long trench coat covered most of his body with ease, save for his unnaturally long fingers.
Cloud Turned away from the mystery man and turned to Sephiroth. "You want a fair fight?"
"Ok, I'll be frank." Said Sephiroth in a voice that was unusually natural for him. "I've been busy for a very long time. After ten years of no major action, I want to turn this into a bit of a game. I know it's rather conceited of me, but I want to give you a fighting chance, purely for my amusement."
"So you're helping me win this…. 'game'?"
"No, I'm just telling you the rules. There are four of us, the legion of Sephiroth known as Seele. If you want to match us, I recommend you start preparing."
"Preparing?" said Aeris.
"Yes. This is a war game. So tell me this, what's the first thing you do in a war game?"
Cloud stared at Sephiroth for a few seconds before Sephiroth said, "Ok, that's it then. Come on, Kefka. And you too Bowser, I'm sorry, but you won't be fighting till tomorrow it after all it seems."
A few seconds past, and when Sephiroth was finally out of sight, Aeris turned the Cloud and said, "Do you have any idea what he meant by that?"
"Yeah, I know exactly what he meant. It's a chess analogy. What's the first thing you do when you start a game of Chess?"
"…I don't know what exactly you're referring to. The first move you make?"
"No, before the battles of the chess game even begin, you need to get your pieces and put them on the board. Sephiroth is telling me to rally troops." end 4
Back at Genmu Stadium, Vaan and the others were watching the ending of a fairly quick and boring fight when Chrono saw Cloud and Aeris approaching their seats. It was dusk now, and the lights of the stadium brightly lit up the ring. Cloud walked up to Chrono and the others and greeted them before taking their seats. "Sorry for being late." Said Cloud.
"Don't worry about it. Did you have fun?" asked Vaan.
"Err, yeah. We found a park and sat together for a while. So anything interesting going on here?"
"Well, that last fight just finished, It was rather mundane, really." said Link.
"My friend won though." said Chrono. "His name's Magus. He'll be joining us tomorrow to watch the fights."
"So then he'll be fighting Ganondorf then?" said Link.
"Yeah but….trust me, Magus is not Tidus. I'm not saying he'll win for sure, but it's not going to end the way the last one did."
Link just gave a sigh before Cloud continued, "So were there any other good fights?"
"Not really, the only one worth watching was Jill Valentine versus Squall Leonhart and there's only one more fight today." said Mario.
Well, In that case I need to tell you somth-" Cloud started but was cut of by Sonic. "What's going on down there?" he said, pointed a few rows down and to the left.
He was looking at a large verbal argument between two older teenage boys, both around seventeen. Chrono and the other's couldn't hear what they were saying, but there body movements and facial expressions told them that they were both ready to fight each other. Eventually they stopped, and the one with blond hair stormed off to the ring.
"I wonder what that was about?" said Vaan.
"That doesn't matter, look over there Cloud. It's the man we met yesterday."
Cloud and the rest of the group looked over at Sephiroth, who was surrounded by three lackeys. They were all looking and the fight with more interest then anyone else and Sephiroth definitely had a slight smile on his face.
"Bowser!" Mario exclaimed. Everyone just looked at him, mostly confused, but Cloud, Link, and Aeris were shocked.
"How do you know him?" Link asked.
"He was my peer a very long time ago at the Phoenix Flame Martial Arts Academy but... what's he doing here? And who are those people?"
"I know who they are…… the man with the long hair is Sephiroth, he was the one who killed Aeris in the war of Midgar ten years ago. There is a lot of history there. We have been battling each other most of our lives, and now that he's at this tournament, he is a very dangerous foe to everyone here. Those around him are, Ganondorf, Kefka, and, of course, Bowser. You already know all that much about Kefka; he's the one in the clown getup. I guess if you want to know about Bowser, you'll have to ask Mario."
Everyone just stared at him in silence for a bit, and then he continued. "The reason I'm telling you this is that by being around me, your sure to be involved. I know I should have told you yesterday, but I was scared of revealing Sephiroth to you all. The horrors that occurred during my battles with Sephiroth during the war of Midgar are unfathomable. I don't want it to start again, but I know see that there is no escape from it. Hanging around me is very dangerous right now. If you don't want to be involved, leave me, and you'll be better off for it."
"Don't be so melodramatic." Said Vaan with a scoff. "I can't do much, but I'm in for this. Besides, I can't fight so I doubt I'd get hurt anyways."
"I'm in, of course." Said Link, followed by Mario.
"I'm not going to let some silver haired pretty boy decide what I do, I'm in." said Fox.
"I'm in. I won't let you turn me down." Said Chrono.
"Well, I'll be damned if I'm going to be the only one of the group leaving, I'm in too." Said Sonic.
Cloud said nothing, he just gave a slight smile and sat down to watch the fight that was about to start.
It turned out the blonde haired kid from the fight was fighting in this round against Samus Aran, the tournament's top female fighter. She wore a suit so filled to the brim with weapons; she was practically a walking tank. Going up against the low tech sword and magic style of the blond kid, named Isaac, it was a surprisingly close fight. Isaac dodged the missiles with ease, and managed to get a few good shots in before a point blank shot from a super missile did him in.
The announcer, Kuja, gave some final announcements for the day and everyone packed up and when to their cabins, Vaan just happened to be stationed in the south division lodging, which was where Mario and Chrono were. So after he made a quick stop to see Sieg, they all were going to meet before they went to bed, however Vaan turned to them and said, "I'm sorry, but I'm turning in a bit early tonight." He left quickly, and was very lucky that neither Chrono, nor Mario, noticed the large amount of papers in his hand.
Cloud entered Seiryu Stadium the next morning with Aeris and set out to find the others. His fight was only in a few minutes and he needed to hurry and get his friends all together before it started. He entered the stands and saw the ring for the first time. The hard wasteland from the north division's Genmu Stadium was replaced with a small rainforest. The ring was visible, but on top of it were various trees and other fauna. There was a ten-foot ring in the center with just grass on it, but the rest was covered in fairly dense woodland. Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to see everyone there except for Sonic.
"Hey Guys!" said a cheerful cloud.
"Good morning Cloud. And you too, Aeris." said Chrono.
"Where's Sonic? He's in this division too, so we thought he would be with you." said Vaan.
"He's sleeping in this morning; He has the last fight of this division, so his fight isn't till early afternoon." Said Cloud. "Listen, I need to get to the ring, but after you get seats send someone to go get me after the fight, ok?"
The group all nodded and Cloud went down to the ring. An escort led him and his opponent, CATS, to the center grassland that Cloud noticed earlier. Cloud sized up his opponent, but it was hard to tell. He looked strong enough, but it wasn't overly showy, like AiAi was so it was hard to tell if he actually had some decent skills or not. Once they had both entered the ring, Kuja started the announcements.
"Welcome to the third day of the 'Best Beyond the Sun' tournament, I'm Kuja, and this is the East Division. Our first fighter is a fan favorite, Cloud Strife. I have to say that it's obvious why he's a popular choice for the winner this year. He's standing there and obviously knows what he's doing; he must have the biggest sword I've ever seen. It weighed in at over a hundred pounds. He's in armor, but it's not tacky or obtrusive, and just to look cool, it seems, his arm is covered with a glove that goes up past his elbow. His noted works include a general in a war and a leader in the attempts to rebuild the ruins of the cities lost in that war. Last time he was here he made it to the 4th round, so let's see how far he goes this time.
Next up is CATS, an interesting warrior from Zeronus. He is another general in a war. He is fairly well known for many great military victories. His armor and weapons are mostly cybernetic making this a sword vs. laser gun fight that never would have happened before the universe opened.
Now that that's over with, let's begin the next division. On the count of three, you may begin. One. Two. Three. BEGIN!"
CATS held his ground while Cloud charged at him with his sword out in front. CATS launched a barrage of blaster shots at Cloud but all of them were easily dodged or blocked with the sword. Cloud reached CATS and ducked under one last shot before giving him a series of kicks that landed him face first a few feet away. Cloud ran over and placed the sharp tip of his sword a few inches away from CAT's neck, so he couldn't move without killing him self. This was called in the tournament rule book "The Swordsman's Victory". Cloud had won the match in 30 seconds.
Cloud made sure CATS was okay before quietly leaving the ring. He looked around the entrance to the ring from the stands, but didn't see anyone he knew. Instead, he saw a man he recognized, but couldn't quite place his remember where, walking greeting him.
"Hello Cloud, My name is Auron. Do you remember me?"
He hesitated for a second before saying, "Oh yeah, you were at the med lab. You're a friend of Tidus', right?"
"That's right. I wanted to tell you that I had a friend of mine check something for me about that fight, and the fight after mine, which is next, should prove his theory. It's the Bowser vs. Ness fight. I want you to meet me at the start of the mid-division break."
"What for?"
"Because my partner in this investigation seems to think that you would want to know about this, however I want to wait until we have more solid evidence, which is going to come from that fight if it comes from anywhere."
"Alright, I'll meet you then. By the way, my associate told me to tell you that your friends are sitting in row 5F."
"Really? Who is it?"
"….There are ears everywhere in this stadium, some of them could be listening in. I don't want to get him move involved then he needs to be, I'll just say that You'll figure it out when you go meet your friends."
"Ok. Good luck with you fight. I'm going to go meet them now."
"Ok, I'll see you later."
Cloud took a while to find his seat, by the time he got there, Kuja was already in the middle of announcements. He looked over to the others, all of whom were congratulating him. Mario was sitting closest to him and was shaking his hand, and Aeris was a few feet away, beaming at him. He noticed that, along with Sonic, Vaan was not there.
"Where did Vaan go?" asked Cloud.
"Didn't you see him?" said Fox. "He said he was gonna go tell you where we were, and then go do something for a friend of his."
"Ah, he got his friend to tell me where you were."
"Well, why'd he do that?", Fox started to say but was then by Cloud, who wanted to get off the subject.
"Hey look, the fight started." Cloud didn't want to go more deeply into where Vaan was, because he already thought he knew. On the right Auron was having a fairly easy time from a short fighter, who looked like he was one of Sonic's universe's many races. Weapons flashed for a while before Auron finally won, only once or twice entering the forest around the central ring.
After Auron's fight ended the six of them all got into light conversation, during which time sonic located the group and rejoined them. A few minutes before Bowser's fight due to start, Aeris turned to Mario and said, "So what can you tell us about Bowser?"
Mario looked at her for a few seconds before saying, "Well, as I already said, he was my peer at the school where I learned my skills. In a class of fifteen he was by far the best and I was a distant second. I suppose I was a little jealous about it, but we were always on fairly good terms.
A few years after class ended we were working on missions for the dojo. You see, sometimes they would take the best students and employ them to do various mission, such as an assassination, or protection. He was assigned to a dangerous assassination assignment, and failed it. He barely escaped with his life.
After that, he was so ashamed of his failure that he trained inhumanly hard, and delved deeper then anyone into our martial art and……well, if you want to see what happens when you go to deeply into dark powers, you just need him to see him fight."
Just then, Bowser and his opponent, a kid who couldn't have been more then ten years old walk out onto the ring. Kuja began his announcements.
"Welcome to our next fight. This time we have a skilled fighter, Bowser Koopa, of the Mushroom Kingdom." He is a well known master of the Phoenix Flame Martial Arts style and is considered to be a bit of a prodigy.
Next where have, just ten years old, Ness Brown. He is one of those well known 'evolution babies' from ten years ago. Ten percent of children born within a few days of that event gained supernatural powers that were not common to that world. This one is from Earth and has telekinetic abilities. Who will win in this battle? Let's find out. On the count of three… One. Two. Three. BEGIN!"
5 The battle started with Bowser and Ness just standing there talking for a few seconds. Then Bowser's expression changed to something that looked sinister even from the stands. His head drooped down below his shoulders and he started breathing heavily. The air around him seemed to bend and contort, as if it were being superheated. Then Bowser started to get bigger. His fingers became long and claw like and his skin became harder. His feet became reptilian and he dug them deeper into the ground. The air around him burst into flame and surrounded him like an aura. His heavy breathing was now a growl as his face contorted with what looked like scales and horns. His whole body turned a shade of deep orange and his whole body was writhing during the transformation.
Ness stared at the hulking figure, now thirteen feet tall and obnoxiously muscular, with a determined look on his face. He was going to take on this dragon with everything he had. No matter what the risk. Finally the transformation climaxed with the flame aura erupting into a hellfire that engulfed the forest in flame. There, standing where a man once stood was an abomination. He looked at Ness with his slits-for-eyes and growled a bit, releasing superheated air from his mouth.
Bowser looked up at the sky and gave an ear piercing roar. Many people in the stands covered their ears and several children in the area around Cloud started crying. Cloud had a feeling that everyone on the planet felt that roar and felt a shiver go down his spine when he realized that that beast was in Sephiroth's employment.
Finally the roar stopped, and Bowser looked at Ness again and entered a battle stance. Without hesitation, Ness began his first attack. end 5
Next Chapter
What is the meaning of life? What is light and darkness? How many forms can energy and power take? Finally, what is the 'Dark Heart Conspiracy'? Questions will be answered and even more raised when we continue this tournament.
Next time: "Conspiracy".
Reap what you sow.