CHAPTER LXXII
BEAR NECESSITIES
In Setzer's viewing room next to the battle arena, a fierce fight raged between the cheaters and the tournament losers – Zell and Rai had backed Thorn into a corner, beating him senseless. The four-armed freak was strong, but Zell was quicker and Rai was stronger. Oddly enough, Thorn wore the two oddly shaped gauntlets that Johnny Go-Go had tried to enter with in the preliminaries, and with his remaining hands merely wore weighted gloves like Zell.
Across the room, Seifer and Setzer were locked in battle on top of his computer console – not expecting a fight, Setzer was unarmed – quite a bad position to be in against a gunblade, especially one wielded by Seifer. Pulling the trigger precisely, a massive blow launched Setzer through the glass mirror that separated his room from the arena.
The audience had seen enough – between the death of the announcer and now their host launching through a window into the arena – they all began to dart for the emergency exits near the rear of the dome. Even the dimwitted Pete began to realize that something strange was afoot…
Fuu and Hayner were in heated combat with Rose and Lily – they were faster than any of them, though they used their elecro-staffs inefficiently.
Near the entrance hall, Aerith cried 'reflega', protecting Mickey from the barrage of bullets issued from Vincent's Cerberus. As the spell subsided, Mickey dove at Vincent, desperately attempting to knock him out…
Near the arena floor, Cloud did a rapid horizontal spin, deflecting the dark energy orbs back at Sephiroth – they struck him backwards, sending him sliding into the now vacant bleachers.
"You dirty cheat!" Seifer choked as Setzer held him against the wall of the arena. "You rigged the whole contest, didn't you…"
"How perceptive…too bad you and your boneheaded friend were eliminated anyway…otherwise I would take great pleasure in depriving you your hard earned munny…" Setzer spat, choking Seifer harder. Seifer's gunblade laid a few feet away, wrenched from his hand by the maniacal gambler.
Hayner left Lily on the ground – she was bested by the young man's exceptional maneuvers – as he struck Setzer in the back of the head with Lily's electrostaff, knocking him away from his friend as he slid limply to the ground.
The battle grew fiercer from that point on – almost on cue from Setzer's piercing, shrill shriek, the fighters grew rabid…fanatical…the stakes were high for everyone in the room… By the entry way, Vincent darted between Mickey and Aerith's constant attacks by hiding in his flowing, blood-red cloak. They swung accurately – but some of their attacks just glided through the fabric like it was a ghost. Hayner and Seifer double teamed Setzer, who had picked up Lily's electrostaff to block Hayner's double-bladed kitana and Seifer's mighty gunblade. On the opposite side of the room, Thorn tumbled out of Setzer's viewing chamber, knocked out by Zell and Rai. They traded high-fives as Fuu was knocked backwards by Rose.
"Fuu!" Rai called, rushing over to his incapacitated friend. "Damn it, I'll teach you some friggin' manners, y'know!" Rai bellowed, cracking Rose in the waist with his weighted staff. She crumpled to the ground, completely unconscious.
Sephiroth smiled as he hovered above the bleachers, rising higher and higher into the air. "Descend…heartless angel…" he cried, bathing Cloud in an eerie red aura.
"Damn…" Cloud whispered, clutching his chest as he grew ever weaker…he tried to stand, but his strength was draining rapidly…
High above the Setzer dome, Pete tiptoed as silently as he could in the catacombs above the ceiling.
"Should be right about…" Pete surveyed the dark, concrete floor of the Setzer Dome's attic, "here!" Pete punched hole downward through the concrete, raining bits and pieces on Cloud's head from far above.
Thorn slowly stood up, aiming his gauntlet's at Zell's unaware backside…pushing the hidden buttons, two long, dagger like darts shot out and embedded themselves in Zell – electrifying him the moment after, like a super-strong taser gun. Zell screamed in anguish as Rai rushed Thorn, head on, slamming his staff on the bodyguard's thick head…
Vincent fell to the ground as Mickey's keyblade luckily connected with him – as quickly as she could, Aerith ripped the ropes that created the ticket line down and tied up her former friend, hoisting him over her shoulder.
"This is for your own good, pal…" Mickey said, slamming the blunt edge of his keyblade into Vincent's temple, knocking him out cold. "Let's get him to the Fenretto, then we can help Cloud!" he said, as Aerith agreed. They bounded out of the Setzer Dome, tearing through the streets of Starsweep Underground, heading for their gummi ship…
Zell took a visual clue from Aerith and proceeded to tie up Thorn, Rose and Lily – Rai stood over Fuu's slumped body.
"Uh…I'm no good at this…" he said, holding his hands out over his friend. "Heal!" he whispered, as small green specks issued from his hands. They weren't much – but they allowed Fuu to regain consciousness and stand with the help of her hulking friend.
"Thanks…" she said, gripping his shoulder tightly.
Cloud looked upwards at the source of the rubble…was that Pete's arm? It was reaching out of the hole in the ceiling for…the Boulder Bear! He quickly realized what was going on – that dimwit was going to steal the prize he had worked so hard to attain…it wasn't going to happen, Cloud decided.
Using his last ounce of strength, Cloud ripped his Buster Sword in two once again, swung the smaller side overhead and released – aiming straight for the ceiling. Sephiroth glanced upward as the attack sorely missed him – he had almost drained all of Cloud's energy…when the sword clanged with the cage holding the Boulder Bear. Freed from the ceiling, it fell fifty feet below and smashed into Sephiroth's head with a deafening thud; the bronze statue certainly was heavy. Sephiroth stopped hovering and plummeted awkwardly toward the ground, as Cloud's red aura subsided, filling him with energy…
As he reattached his sword and stared Sephiroth down once more, Cloud saw Pete scampering away through the exit – having lost the Boulder Bear, Vincent and Ember, Pete finally realized how vulnerable he was…
Setzer's mane of hair whipped around him as Hayner and Seifer juggled him near his viewing room – as he slumped to the ground, unconscious, Hayner reached into Setzer's lavish tuxedo and produced a large sack of munny – quite possibly more than had been collected from all of the combatants of the Showdown put together. Smiling profusely, Seifer, Hayner, Fuu, Rai and Zell all congratulated each other off to the side of the arena, while one threat still remained.
"You've grown stronger, Cloud…more clever as well…I can't deny you that much…" Sephiroth said as he and Cloud circled the arena, swords nearly touching. "It'll be nice to watch you die knowing that you were practicing for this battle…"
The walls of the Setzer Dome rocked unstably, debris falling at the heroes' feet.
"What the hell was that!" Zell asked, spinning around like a crazed hummingbird.
His question was answered as the sleek, black and purple Fenretto blasted through the northern wall of the Setzer Dome, bearing straight through like it was a going through any normal tunnel. Mickey furrowed his brow as he blasted Sephiroth with repeating cannon fire, rocketing him like a ragdoll into the southern wall. Aerith dangled precariously from the bay doors, reaching down for Cloud as Mickey lowered the ship.
"C'mon!" Aerith yelled, smiling down at Cloud. Rolling his eyes, Cloud grabbed the Boulder Bear and Aerith's hand in one motion, being pulled around the dome in a huge loop. Hayner held up the munny pouch as Cloud and the Fenretto grew closer.
"Hey! This is yours, fair and square!" Hayner said, about to toss Cloud the munny. Cloud swung the Boulder Bear up into the cargo hold and hoisted himself up as well – as the hatch closed, he shouted back down toward Hayner and his friends.
"Keep it," he smirked. "I got what I came for."
Sephiroth watched the Fenretto shoot out of the Setzer Dome through a newly blasted hole in the wall as he tore himself free from the piles of debris that had rained down upon him. The ship tore down the streets and out of sight – heading back up the stairwell that led back to space. Sephiroth frowned slightly, disappearing in a thick cloud of dark smoke.
Out of the rubble to the side of the Setzer Dome, a thin, wispy man clawed his way out of the wreckage. Still holding a silver microphone in his hand, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"AMAZING! THE MOST SPECTACULAR GRAND SHOWDOWN IN CENTURIES! THIS IS ROWDY RON RAMBLER SAYING 'SHOW'S OVER, STARSWEEP UNDERGROUND!'" he shouted, fainting backwards into a pile of rocks as his broken glasses slid off of his dirty, tear streaked face.
