Chapter 10: Born From Chaos

Day 2, 08:30

Lightning found her way to the south side of the Restaraunt District but beyond that she had not gone much further in her previous night in the city. She came to a fork in the road and the street signs in this area were all foreign to her.

"Hope, which way should I be going here?" Lightning asked.

Nothing but silence triggered on the other end. She waited for a moment and then heard a faint crackle.

"Light- ca... me? ...eaking up."

Not again, Lightning thought. She looked down the path to her left and suddenly saw a massive sphere of Chaos consume a small part of the city. People began running past her in their efforts to get away from the encroaching Chaos.

Lightning hopped over the railing of a small staircase leading down into what appeared to be a series of warehouses. The people began piling up against the wall, running in terror from the slowly growing sphere.

Lightning rushed deeper into the labyrinth of boxes and storerooms, until she found a single path just before where the Chaos sphere ended. There was a woman in a tricorn hat carrying a large sword blocking her path.

"Hey! This is a restricted area. A giant creature came outta the Chaos and it's causing a panic!" She said.

Lightning looked around for any sign of the military, but this woman seemed to be the only one impeding the path.

"And no one's doing anything?" Lightning asked.

The woman shook her head. "Thirteen brave bounty hunters volunteered to take the beast down, to keep the peace." She suddenly slammed her fist down at the air, her red hair flying and her eyes alight with a sudden fury. "Thirteen! That should have been enough, right? Guess how many still live? Just one."

Lightning nodded knowingly. Clearly, she was the lone survivor.

"God," she sighed. "Such horrors I'd hoped to never have to see in my lifetime. The city's lost now. No one can face that monster and live! And with the Chaos creating more of them..."

Lightning lifted her sword. "Sounds dangerous. Good thing I have a few minutes to spare."

"Were you listening to me!? It killed twelve brave warriors! You're just one person. And a woman no less," She said.

Lightning took a moment to appreciate the irony of sexism in a member of her own sex.

"But if you really want to fight it, I won't stop you," the woman replied. "Better give me your name in case anybody wants to come to pick up your corpse."

Lightning shook her head. "Lightning."

"Solandra," the woman replied nodding.

Without taking another moment to think about it, Lightning plunged into the sphere of Chaos. The choking sensation clotted her throat and lungs, the near blindness made her only to see through the intense willpower she'd been blessed with. And the less tangible side-effects such as complete dread once more washed over her.

She did not have to travel far to notice the giant beast whom Solandra was referring to. Once more an enormous dragon-like entity loomed overhead. Lightning regretted deeply that her communicator was jammed by the Chaos spike. For one, Hope was probably wondering what had happened to her. More immediately important however was that she did not recognize this beast, and it was not like the Zaltys she'd faced in Snow's Palace.

This beast was a bit larger, had enormous wings and a long spiked tail. To complicate matters, so infused by the Chaos it was that it seemed to be even more vicious than it would otherwise be, its eyes black as the night and its body seeming to emanate with the power around it.

Lightning tried for a swift-kill with her sword, but with a terrible slash of its front legs it knocked her back against one of the warehouse walls. From its mouth came a blast of wind like Lightning had never felt, which picked her up and flung her further down the path.

Her head rang from the force of the landing, and a faint trickle of blood rolled down her head. She couldn't rush in like that again. The monster was simply too powerful for her. Before she had time to consider a strategy the beast rushed at her once more. It slammed its own horned head against her. She lifted her shield quickly to try and repel the creatures attack but while it prevented her torso from being cut up, the shockwave of the creature's head rushed through the shield and into her left arm causing it to quake with pain.

Lightning had to react quicker than this. She rolled around the beast to try and get a decent bead on the monster but even in this narrow space, it was able to react hastily, using its tail to fight her off while it slowly turned. The spiked appendage whipped at her recklessly as the monster turned to face her.

Lightning swung her sword at the beast and while it did strike its torso the creature did not even seem to notice. It reached down with its head and bit into Lightning's shield-arm. Lightning screamed in pain as the monster's teeth sunk into her flesh With an effect like a catapult, it flung Lightning over its shoulder and she sailed like a rag-doll through the air, her arms useless. She hit the ground beside Solandra with a thud and the bounty hunter's green tricorn hat was the last thing she saw before passing out.

Day 2, 11:00

She awoke a few hours later in a bed at the inn near the south plaza. Standing over her bed was Solandra and a very elaborately dressed woman. She had long brown hair and seemed to be in a a chocobo costume, complete with brilliant pink wings instead of arms, a short feathery skirt and a hat that looked like the beady eyes and beak of the enormous wild birds.

"You're finally awake," Solandra sighed.

"What happened?" Lightning asked as she slowly got up. Her arm and head had been bandaged, and the clock on the bedside table read 11:05 AM.

"The monster took you for a ride," Solandra replied. "Good thing the Order showed up to police the area or I would have had to leave you there. This lady-" Solandra nodded to the bird-girl. "-paid for your room too."

"Thank you," Lightning nodded. She suddenly remembered and pushed the button on her ear. "Hope! Are you there?"

"Light! You had me worried sick," Hope said.

Lightning lowered her head. "I'm sorry."

"You need to be more careful, Lightning. If you die, there's no hope for anybody," Hope ordered.

"I understand Hope," Lightning replied.

Lightning turned back to Solandra. "Thank you again."

Solandra took this as her cue to leave and walked out of the room. The girl in the outfit sat down beside Lightning on the bed.

Lightning was confused by this at first. "Um. I can pay you back if you'd like."

"Choco-boco! It sure has been a long time, hasn't it, Lightning?" The woman smiled.

Lightning leaned back against the headboard. "How do you know my name? I don't think we've met."

The woman gasped dramatically, covering her mouth with one of her "wings". "What!? Don't tell me you don't remember Chocolina!" Then, as if coming to her senses, she calmed down. "...Oh, duh, of course you wouldn't."

Lightning cocked her head to the side. Chocolina continued.

"Let's just say that I gave your sister a helping hand during her journey a long, long time ago."

Lightning sat upright. In doing so she found that her arm was fine. The pain had long since subsided or so it seemed. She took off the bandages and found that not so much as a scar remained of them.

"You sure are a quick healer!" Chocolina observed.

Of course I am, Lightning thought. I suppose I am part-deity now.

"You helped Serah on her journey?" Lightning asked, brushing her non-wounds aside. "... I hope I don't offend you, but- you're not entirely human, are you?"

Chocolina sighed. "No. Sadly, in my true form I'm not nearly as drop-dead gorgeous. But I am on your side. I'm here to help, like I did for your sister."

"I don't even know you. How do I know you're not lying to me?"

Chocolina smiled unconcernedly. "Well you're just going to have to try."

Lightning didn't feel the same sense of being manipulated that she did whenever Lumina was around, and with her bubbly personality she certainly seemed trustworthy.

"Oooh, I know! I can tell you all about me and my past until I convince you I'm a friend! It all started back when-"

Lightning's head was beginning to hurt once more for reasons that had nothing to do with being hurled by a dragon.

"Wait, never mind. I trust you. You're on my side. Please, stop talking."

Chocolina smiled. "Well, I'm off to go explore the city. But I'll be keeping an eye on you!"

Chocolina left and Lightning stood up. She picked up her shield and re-sheathed her sword.

"So, almost noon and I haven't found a single number yet. But the path to the south station is blocked by that monster," Lightning sighed.

"About that. I overheard the women who helped you talking about the dragon. I've looked up something that I think come's close," Hope said. "It's called a Zomok, it's an ancient type of air dragon. And one that is infused with Chaos... well I don't dare think of what that would be capable of."

"It's too strong for me?" Lightning asked. "Let it go?"

"Normally I'd say yes," Hope said. "But if the Chaos spreads any further it could destroy the whole town. We'll need to come up with a strategy for defeating it. Is there anything you can remember about the fight?"

"Yeah," Lightning replied sardonically. "Don't let it bite you."

"Funny," Hope replied without a trace of amusement. "It's in a collection of narrow streets-"

"But it moves pretty fast. I already tried using speed over strength, and it didn't work any better."

"With those tight quarters it will be grounded, and shouldn't be able to fly. Maybe if you can get to the rooftops you can attack just it's head, without having to deal with the rest of it," Hope suggested.

"The head is the most dangerous part," Lightning replied.

"Well, like you said, just don't let it bite you," Hope replied.

Lightning shook her head. He did have a point.

"Okay. I guess we'll try this again then," Lightning sighed.