Chapter Twenty-two: The Neibelheim Battle
"WHAT? OUR HEADS?" Calvin shrieked.
"Is that what he said?" Hobbes asked. "I didn't hear him very well when he said it."
The mako monsters were charging towards the entrance of the Shinra Mansion, where Calvin and Hobbes were standing.
"RUN!" Calvin shouted as he dragged Hobbes into the mansion and slammed the door shut.
"What are we going to do?" Hobbes panicked. "If they get in, we're dead!
"Quick! We've got to block the door with whatever we can move!"
Meanwhile, Cloud and the rest of the party watched on in terror as the monsters attacked the door to the mansion.
"Sephiroth! Leave them alone!" Cloud demanded, drawing his massive weapon. "I'm the one you want! Not them!"
"On contrary," Sephiroth grinned. "anyone who is a human is an enemy to Sephiroth. But even more so, anyone who is a friend to you, Cloud, is despised by Sephiroth and are the first victims on his list!"
"You monster!" Cloud gritted. "They're children! They don't know any better!"
"Then they're going to have to learn the hard way, aren't they?"
Cloud didn't wait for something to happen anymore. He charged towards the mansion, sword readied for battle. However, at the snap of his finger, Sephiroth summoned more mako-infected creatures from the earth to block the path between Cloud and the mansion. Cloud swung his sword and brought down one of the creatures. But the instant he had, another struck Cloud and brought him down to one knee immediately.
"C'mon!" Barret shouted. "Cloud needs our help!" With those words, Barret and the rest of the gang charged towards the monsters and the battle for Neibelheim was under way.
"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?" Calvin shrieked. "THOSE THINGS ARE GOING TO KILL US IF WE DON'T ACT FAST!"
"CALM DOWN!" Hobbes shouted. "LET'S PUT WHATEVER'S NOT BOLTED DOWN IN FRONT OF THE DOOR! HELP ME WITH THIS TABLE!"
Meanwhile, outdoors, Red XIII and Cait Sith were working as a team against a heard of mako-infected humans. Tifa and Cloud had joined forces and were using a combination of martial arts and swordsmanship to attack the monsters that were advancing towards the mansion. While Barret and Aeris fought off the monsters that were in the square of the town, protecting any innocent bystanders. Sephiroth, surprisingly, just stood on top of a building and watched the action as if he were watching an act at a carnival.
"CLOUD! ARE YOU SURE THESE THE THINGS YOU SAW IN THOSE CONTAINERS IN THE REACTOR FIVE YEARS AGO?" Tifa asked as she brought her fists down on a monster.
"I'D NEVER FORGET THESE THINGS EVEN IF I TRIED! THESE ARE THE SAME CREATURES ALL RIGHT! I NEVER IMAGINED THEY WOULD BE SO STRONG!" Cloud replied as he sliced another monster with his gigantic sword.
Down in the square, Aeris was healing and talking to a group of people who were shaking vigorously at the sight of the newly spawned monsters.
"Please…get inside," Aeris asked some people Barret had just saved. "On my life, I promise that these creatures shall not harm you!"
"YOU'VE GOT MY WORD ON THAT TOO!" Barret shouted over the sound of his gunfire. "NOW GET INSIDE!"
The people obeyed and ran into the nearest building. When Aeris turned around, a monster was pouncing towards her. Using her lightning-speed reflexes, Aeris stopped the creature from biting her with her staff and lunged the monster to the ground, bashing it's skull when she had it pinned down.
Elsewhere, Cait Sith and Red XIII were having their own little share of fighting with Sephiroth's so-called brothers.
"Let's see how you fellas react when you're half the size you are now," Cait Sith snickered as he focused a spell on a heard of the monsters. "MINI!"
With that word, a small cloud of dust surrounded the monsters and began to shrink them down to a quarter of the size they were originally.
"Nicely done!" Red XIII complimented. "Now, allow me to attack them with my own magic! FIRE 2!"
In an instant, the monsters were surrounded by flames and burned up to nothing but ashes. But the second those ones died, more of them spawned from the ground and jumped Red XIII and Cait Sith.
Back in the mansion, Calvin and Hobbes had blocked the front door with anything they could find. From chairs to tables to old dressers, it was impossible for a normal human being to enter the mansion.
"HA! I'd like to see those stupid monsters break into this mansion now!" Calvin said arrogantly.
But as soon as Calvin said this, the door began to shake violently as the monsters outside were banging against it. Despite the fact that the door was blocked by so many objects, the mako-infected humans were still breaking through slowly, but surely.
"All that stuff blocking the door isn't keeping them out!" Hobbes said in shock. "Now what are we going to do?"
"Quick! Let's hide upstairs!" Calvin shouted as he bolted up the stairs with Hobbes right behind.
They found a room that they had not yet explored. Deciding there was no time to waste, they went into the room, closed the door, and locked it.
"I just hope they don't find us in here," Calvin whimpered.
"Hey, look!" Hobbes said in surprise as he pointed behind Calvin.
Calvin turned around and much to his liking, there was a Winchester Rifle along with a massive amount of gun powder and bullets.
"JUST HOW MANY OF THESE BROTHERS ARE UNDER THE GROUND?" Barret shouted in frustration as he jumped out of the way of a monster emerging beneath his feet.
"I'm not sure," Aeris replied more calmly as she fired an Ice 2 spell on the monsters advancing towards the inn.
"WELL, IF THIS KEEPS UP ANY LONGER, WE'RE GONNA BE LIKE THESE GUYS WERE BEFORE SEPHIROTH SUMMONED THEM: UNDER THE GROUND!"
A monster was trying to bite Barret, but a certain force field was preventing it from doing so. Soon, the air around them began to feel extremely hot and the ground broke away as a monster unlike the ones summoned by Sephiroth appeared. It had green skin and it was breathing fire as it gave a loud roar of anger.
"IFRIT!" Aeris commanded, "ATTACK THESE MONSTERS WITH THE RAGE AND FIRE OF HELL! HELLFIRE!"
Ifrit set its sights upon the creatures and was focusing all its energy to destroy them all. But as it was preparing to attack, Sephiroth jumped off the house he was standing on, pulled out his massive sword, and sliced Ifrit with it, causing the creature to shriek in horrible pain and disperse in a flame.
"Now, now…playing dirty, are we? Aeris, you're the last person I expected to pull a stunt like that. As an Ancient, you should look for the proudest way to win a battle, don't you think?" Sephiroth snickered as he went back to his lookout spot.
The instant he returned there, though, the air became unbearably cold for Sephiroth and the monsters, but not for Cloud and the rest of the party as they were surrounded by another force field. Sephiroth took note of Cait Sith, who was focusing as hard as Aeris was earlier.
"Goddess of Ice, freeze thy for into oblivion…COME FORTH SHIVA!"
As he shouted this, a light descended from the sky as a creature that looked like a woman made of ice came down from the light: Shiva.
Shiva began to focus on an attack as she raised her hand up, conjuring ice from the atmosphere, but like Ifrit before her, she felt the wrath of Sephiroth as he sliced her in half as well, causing her to disappear into a cloud of frost.
"DAMN! SEPHIROTH AIN'T GONNA LET US USE OUR SOMMON MATERIA!" Barret shouted in frustration.
"Great," Cloud sighed, "This could make things a little more interesting."
Back inside the mansion, Calvin and Hobbes were preparing the rifle to be used.
"Okay, I've got the powder," Hobbes said, carrying over a barrel. "We load the gun with powder right here in this spot, and then we've got to get the bullets."
"Got it. You load the gun and I'll look for the bullets."
Calvin immediately ran to the shelf and searched frantically for the box of bullets. But the shelf was so dusty and there were so many other small boxes on them, it was going to take a while to find the right box. Deciding not to waste any more time staring at the shelf, Calvin began to throw boxes left and right.
As Calvin searched and Hobbes loaded the gunpowder, noises that sounded like snarling began to enter the mansion.
"HURRY UP!" Hobbes shouted. "IT SOUNDS LIKE THOSE THINGS ARE ALMOST THROUGH THE DOOR!"
"I CAN'T SEE WHICH BOX HAS THE BULLETS WITH ALL THIS DUST! AHA! HERE THEY ARE!"
Calvin held up a box that said "bullets" on the front of it. He opened the box to reveal hundreds of bullets, waiting to be used.
"DID YOU FIND THEM?" Hobbes asked impatiently.
"I SURE DID! HERE, CATCH!"
"DON'T THROW THEM!" Hobbes shouted quickly.
But Hobbes was too late as he saw the box of bullets fly over his head, spilling all the bullets onto the ground. The bullets rolled around until they made their way into a hole in the floor.
Hobbes glared at Calvin with the ugliest glare a tiger could give to a boy, which is far scarier than a human can ever glare.
"…oops…" was all Calvin managed to whisper.
Outside, Red XIII and Cait Sith were fighting ten monsters at once, barely managing to keep on their feet.
"This is not good!" Cait Sith yelled as he brought his Megaphone down upon one of the monsters. "I think these things may be out of our league!"
"No!" Red XIII shouted. "We can't give up! I won't let the blood that runs through my veins be put to shame! We've got to fight them back!"
With those words, Red XIII began to glow crimson red.
"STARDUST RAIN!" He shouted and the sky became dark with stardust pouring down upon the creatures, delivering massive damage to the monsters.
"Now, Cait Sith, use your magic to finish them off!" Red XIII ordered.
However, Cait Sith was one step ahead of him. He had already conjured a lightning spell that eliminated all the monsters. But much like before, more monsters jumped out of the ground and attacked Red XIII and Cait Sith.
Meanwhile, Tifa was struggling with three monsters. One managed to bite her arm while the other two had her pinned to the ground.
Cloud turned around and immediately ran to her aid. All it took was one swift swing of his sword and all three creatures were dead.
Following the death of the creatures, Cloud cast a Cure 2 spell on Tifa rapidly, knowing that there would soon be more monsters ready to attack.
Back in the mansion, Hobbes and Calvin were arguing ferociously.
:"THANKS A LOT, CALVIN! THIS GUN'S USELESS NOW!" Hobbes shouted. "YOU LOST ALL THE BULLETS!"
"I LOST THE BULLETS? YOU'RE THE ONE THAT DIDN'T CATCH THEM!"
"YOT SHOULD HAVE KNOWN NOT TO THROWN THE BULLETS! YOU CAN'T THROW WORTH BEANS! NOW WE HAVE NO BULLETS!"
Before Calvin could respond, there was ferocious scratching at the door. The monsters had made their way into the mansion and had heard Calvin and Hobbes arguing.
"OH NO! NOW WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?" Calvin panicked.
Hobbes tried to think of a plan as quickly as possible. He looked at the barrel of gunpowder he was holding. He turned around and noticed that there were more barrels of gunpowder behind them.
"I've got an idea! Hobbes proclaimed as if a light had been turned on in his head. "Quick, let's get those barrels of gunpowder!"
Outside, Cloud had just used Meteorain to wipe out the monsters that had just popped out in front of the mansion. He swung his sword furiously, trying to get to the doors of the mansion to save Calvin and Hobbes.
"Tifa! See if you can't distract these things!" Cloud shouted. "Lure them over to the others and then kill them!"
"You've got it!" Tifa shouted. She then jumped in front of the monsters that were behind Cloud and grabbed their attention by punching one of them in the face. Enraged with the desire for revenge, the monsters began to run after her. Tifa maneuvered them away from the mansion and towards the square, where the others were fighting.
Barret saw the oncoming stampede of monsters and ordered that Red XIII, Cait Sith, and Aeris get behind him. HE told Tifa to do the same thing when she entered the square. Once they were all behind him, he set his gun arm to Machine Gun Mode and began to fire rapidly at the creatures, killing them one at a time.
Cloud was still trying to get into the mansion, but as he was about to enter the door, a man in a black cape appeared before him, glaring at Cloud.
"The only way you're ever going to enter this mansion again is through me," Sephiroth declared.
Cloud tried to slash at Sephiroth, but Sephiroth moved out of the way easily and knocked Cloud off his feet, sending him flying into a nearby statue.
"You've grown weaker," Sephiroth laughed as Cloud just glared at him.
Back in the mansion, Calvin and Hobbes had put the gunpowder into one big pile in the back of the room.
"All right, Calvin, here's the plan: When those monsters break through, use a fire spell and light this trail of gunpowder. This will give us enough time to block the door, lock the monsters inside, and escape the mansion. Got it?
"Okay. Got it."
By now, the door was almost broken off its hinges. Calvin began to conjure a fire spell, focusing all his thoughts on the fire sparking the gunpowder.
"FIRE!" Calvin shouted just as the monsters broke through the door. The spell hit the intended target and the fuse was rapidly burning towards the gun powder.
"Okay! RUN!" Hobbes shouted.
Immediately, Calvin and Hobbes darted towards the monsters and began to frantically make their way past through them. However, they weren't going nearly fast enough. The monsters were biting and scratching at them, intending to kill them. Calvin and Hobbes were fighting as hard as they could to get out of the room, but by now, the fuse was only feet from the gunpowder.
"WE'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!" Calvin shouted hysterically.
'WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT!" Hobbes assured as he slashed one of the monsters with his Tiger Claws.
Calvin fired dart shots juiced by the deathblow materia he had equipped as fast as he could, trying to get out of the room.
"WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT!" Hobbes shouted again confidently, but worriedly at the same time, hitting a monster with an ice spell.
But no matter how hard Calvin and Hobbes fought, the monsters had them pinned in the same spot they were when they should have already been outside. Calvin and Hobbes looked at the gunpowder to see it was now only inched from the barrels.
"HOBBES! THE GUNPOWDER!"
"I SEE IT! I SEE IT!"
"WE'RE DOOMED!"
"I KNOW!'
Calvin and Hobbes watched the fire go into one of the barrels just before they shut their eyes.
Suddenly, everything seemed to happen at once. There was an enormous explosion as the right half of the Neibelheim mansion was engulfed with flames, raining fire and debris down upon Cloud, Sephiroth, and the whole town of Neibelheim.
"What the hell just happened?" Barret demanded as he looked on in awe at the mansion.
"Wait! Weren't Calvin and Hobbes were in the mansion?" Red XIII asked.
At that moment, all faces went from shocked to scared.
"Yes! They were!" Tifa exclaimed.
"…Calvin…Hobbes…no…" Aeris whispered.
"NO!" Cloud cried out as he watched the mansion be consumed by the raging fire. Cloud fell to his knees and was pounding the ground in anger and grief.
Sephiroth, whom had levitated away from the mansion momentarily to escape the explosion, had now landed in front of Cloud, snickering menacingly.
"Well," He said as he glanced at the burning building, "two down".