Chapter 6: The Early Assault
"You may be my opponent," Kiku said. She gripped the bark-brown handle of her dark pink blade, slightly pushing Sephiroth's Masamune that was against hers.
"Heh," he stared into her bright pink eyes. "I don't need your consent to be your opponent." He pushed her away forcefully. Flipping into the air, she ran away, making her way out of the village. "It's too early to be retreating," he chuckled, quickly running after her.
Loz switched his attention back to Theris. Yuffie seemed bored and she yawned. Loz appeared right in front of her. He was going to throw his fist in her face, but she swiftly grabbed his arm and jumped away to the trees and stood on a tree branch.
"You're pretty fast," she commented, putting her hands on her hips, "But you're just a human." She disappeared and stood behind him. He looked over his shoulders and glared at her. "But I'm faster because I'm an Undead."
"Undead, my ass!" he threw another punch to her.
Yuffie laughed with joy and disappeared again.
Theris pushed herself to sit up. Her legs ached so much. She could feel the some of the pieces of her bones cracking. She stared down at the Image Weapons that were lying around her. She recalled the childhood memories of Yuffie, her best friend at the time. But Yuffie had drifted further and further each year. Yuffie was the only friend she trusted. It angered every time that she said she had other business to tend to.
Clutching her hands into fists, Theris bit her lower lip. "Yuuuffffiieeeeeeee!" she shouted with tremendous hatred. Yuffie's treatment of her was the last straw. She was not going to forgive her now.
Vincent was in the middle of fighting off the Zetsumei. Shooting down most of them, he turned around when he heard Yuffie's name.
Theris tried to stand up on her broken legs. Seeing her vulnerable, the shadow creatures quickly dashed towards her. Loz noticed them coming to her and grabbed Theris, putting her over his shoulder. He gave the Image Weapons a quick look. There were about ten of them, Yuffie had taken most of them already. He put his hands over them and it all glowed, entering him. They are pretty easy to control. Standing up, he dodged every monster that jumped to him and hurried to find shelter for Theris.
"Let me down!" Theris cried angrily, hitting his back with her fists. He said nothing, jumping around to dodge more Zetsumei. She growled, giving him a final hit. She still had some Image Weapon with her. She could just summon a weapon and stab him, but he helped her from danger. She had to be a little thankful. She looked around. "Yufffiieeee!" she cried out again.
Aerith was protecting the children and the women in the house. Some of them were injured and she quickly healed them. Kadaj and Yazoo were making sure none of the Zetsumei was going to enter the house. Tifa and Cloud were also doing the same at the other houses, with the help of Angeal and Lazard. The only ones who were going around attacking the Zetsumei were Vincent, Zack, and Genesis. But even if they all were protecting the ones who were in the house, a few people had already been killed outside.
Zack glared as he slashed through every Zetsumei. "Damn it!" he exclaimed. "There's too many of them!" He had to think of something. Anything. There was no chance to run out of the village either. "Ah! Genesis!" he smiled when Genesis jumped out from nowhere. "Do you have a summon spirit that can teleport people out of here?"
Genesis thought for a moment. He stepped aside when one monster leaped towards him. "Yes, I think I do," he said. "But I can't seem to summon anymore. A pity."
"What?!" Zack said, struggling with one of the Zetsumei. His big sword was in its mouth. Zack used all of his strength and slashed from the monster's mouth and all the way down its body. It disappeared and Zack sighed tiredly. "Then what are we supposed to do?!"
Genesis shrugged.
Sephiroth and Kiku ran outside of the village, into the forest. He stayed right behind her, not catching up or falling behind. She found that irritating and felt like he was teasing her. She knew that he could be faster if he wanted to but he was only keeping up with her speed. Nor did she speed up either.
Annoyed, she faced him with her sword. Their blades hit one another and they held their ground. Kiku smirked at him and he smirked back. Her sword suddenly broke into pieces. Looking at it closely, there was a thick wire that connected the pieces. A Snakesword. The tip of the sword went around them and targeted Sephiroth. He pushed her back and managed to dodge the deathblow by her. The two of them kept their distances, waiting for the other to react.
"Oh…" Sephiroth grinned when he noticed a chip on his blade. His eyes fixed on Kiku. He was amused. This is the first time in a very long time that his blade had ever gotten chipped. She really was not a human after all. He drew his sword back, ready to jump and strike her.
Kiku had already made a move before he did. She jumped towards him and hit him with her blade, but he blocked it with his own. She glared as he smirked at her.
"You seem to be having fun," she observed. He seemed to be a very strong foe. She needed to be careful. He was as strong as he looked, maybe even stronger.
Sephiroth blinked slowly and gazed at her. He shoved her away again with Masamune and she flipped in the air, landing far away from him. "You could say that I am having fun, but…" he gripped his sword with two hands. "Let's just see how long you can entertain me."
She held onto her sword tightly as he moved towards her. He brought his sword down and she jumped away. "I'm sorry, but I'm an entertainer," she said, running off from tree to tree.
Then she heard a light ringing sound in her head. She realized she did not have the time to fool around with him. There was something else she must do but getting away from him would not be easy task. She could feel him right behind her, following her every step over again.
"Where do you think you're going?" Sephiroth had appeared in front of her and slashed her. She blocked his blade with her metal arm brace, hurrying to form a distance between them. "I haven't even mention my name yet," he smirked as the wind blow around them.
"Not interested," she glared.
His long hair gracefully flew around him and she could not help but stare at it. It was beautiful.
Studying him, she realized that he was not attacking her because she dozed off. "How do you manage to keep your hair long, carrying that long blade of yours?" she questioned. Since he was not attacking just yet, she wanted to know.
Sephiroth did not know what to think of that. Why was she asking such a question at a time like this? He did not want to hurt her because she was not even paying attention. He would have taken the chance to kill her but she only stood and that confused him. "You were looking at my hair?" he asked, his bangs touching his face.
"You know, if you were a woman, I probably would have outrun you a while ago," Kiku said, changing the subject. She scratched her face and turned to look around.
He could not help but frown. She did not seem like the type to cause trouble, but she definitely had some skills with her sword. This was just the beginning so he did not know her true abilities. He could have struck her down when she looked away just now, but why would he when she was defenseless? It did not seem right, was that it? What was Sephiroth thinking at a time like this?
She too did not attack him when he blanked out for a moment. She started to feel awkward. I wonder how's Yuffie's doing right now. She thought mentally, turning away.
Sephiroth was not going to space out this time. It only puzzled him why he would. He leaped towards her, ready for another attack. Her attention went back to the battle and she activated her Snakesword, ready to defend and attack.
Sephiroth then felt a shockwave in his head and he dropped to his knees just when he was to strike for her arm. He knelt in front of her, holding his head as the shockwave kept coming. He groaned quietly and painfully.
Kiku's sword was going for his neck, but it retreated back into one whole sword. If she had not, she would have had his head just now. She stared at him as he was in pain.
Back at the village, Aerith's head started to hurt and she cried. It felt like it was going to split. Kadaj heard his mother's cry and rushed into the house.
"Mother!" Kadaj hurried to her side. "What's wrong?"
Aerith calmed herself, but the headache did not go away. Then she heard a loud ringing in her head and she covered her ears. Kadaj said something but she could not hear him. She continued to hold back her cry so the others would not be distracted as they fought outside.
Kiku walked away, ignoring Sephiroth. She looked back at him and he look at her with one eye with Masamune in his hand. The other eye was closed because the pain in his head. It was the perfect chance to attack him. Waste of time. She only thought. She dashed through the forest, returning back to the village.
Sephiroth dropped to his hands and he touched his head. He gripped his hair, hearing a loud ringing in his head. It was driving him nuts. He tried to get up, but it was no use. It was too painful.
Yuffie walked by and spotted Cloud. He was fighting all over the place, protecting the house where the people were. It felt like she knew him from somewhere, but she shrugged it off. She continued to walk around, unnoticed by anyone. "Where did that redhead and silverhead go?" she pouted. Theris was screaming for Yuffie and she could tell where she was, but Theris had stopped so Yuffie could not locate her voice anymore.
Stopping, she looked at the house Cloud and Tifa were defending. "In there, maybe?" she tapped on her chin with her finger.
Loz set Theris down beside the some of the people in one of the houses. She breathed heavily through her nose because Loz had stuffed her mouth with a cloth. She was being too loud. She glared furiously at him, but he couldn't care less.
Yuffie had jumped through the window, crushing it into pieces and landed in front of them. The people in the same room screamed and hurried to get away. "Ah, there you are," Yuffie grinned.
Loz glared at her. "You're so persistent!"
Yuffie looked at Theris. She stared right back at the gray-skinned girl. Theris's legs ached, but her heart was what ached the most. She could not believe Yuffie would do such a thing to her. After all these years, she had always waited for Yuffie. She wanted to return to the days when they hunted for rare items together.
Theris closed her eyes. Her legs gave her so much pain and she fainted after a second of closing her eyes. Then her body glowed bright green and then she disappeared.
"Hey, where did she go?!" Yuffie looked around for Theris. She no longer heard the screams of the people either. Everyone in the room, but Loz, had vanished.
Some of the Zetsumei crushed into the houses and Zack followed to hurry and protect the people there. There was a flash of a bright green light. Zack knocked the front door down but it was empty inside. The Zetsumei were running around to see if the people were hiding somewhere.
"Huh?" Zack looked around. The Zetsumei ignored his presence since he is not what they are looking for. "Where did all villagers go?"
"I teleported them outside of the forest," a female voice said.
Zack turned around. He looked at the girl. "And you are…?" he asked.
She wore a black dress with long sleeves, her shoulders bare. A black hood covered half her face while her cape fell to her lower back. Black bangs covered her eyes. She wore black leather gloves and black shoes. She also wore fishnet tights, her dress had a long slit and it showed her right leg.
She walked away without answering.
"Wait!" he followed her.
She stopped and turned to him. He quickly stood right in front of her. "You should hurry and carry out your plan," she told him. She quickly ran out of his sight.
Zack sighed. "Who was that girl? And how did she know about…?" He looked around outside.
The Zetsumei were all wandering around and leaving to find the people who were not from this world. Half of them went towards Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent since the three of them were still in the village. Zack and the others were being completely ignored now.
Yuffie pouted. Theris might not be around here anymore. She hurried outside and jumped up on the roof. She looked at the Zetsumei. "Never mind getting your breakfast! Get rid of the ones that are here right now!" she ordered. Kiku probably would not want anyone to escape. Yuffie needed to make sure they will not become a troublesome group who would interfere with them.
Then she saw Vincent. He looked up at her, standing on the ground with his gun in his hand. His expressionless look showed a little of shock and confusion. "Yuffie?" he asked.
She blinked at him. Just another nobody who she might know as well. She did not inquire about it and turned to leave the rest to the Zetsumei to do the work while she went to find Theris.
"Yuffie!" Vincent ran off after her.
"Okay! Listen up, everyone!" Zack shouted. "Retreat! Do what I have instructed about the groups! Don't forget to keep in touch!!"
They were going to leave the dead bodies there. Most of them were no longer bodies because the Zetsumei had eaten them. If they did not run now, who knew what would happen if millions of Zetsumei appeared.
Zack closed his eyes. "Sorry…" he said, silently praying for those who died.
Cloud and Tifa nodded to each other. They quickly followed Zack as they searched for Aerith.
Tifa looked back at the dead bodies sadly. She felt sorry for not being able to save them. But in a situation like this, she needed to hurry.
Genesis and Angeal went to look for Vincent.
Yazoo met up with Loz.
Kadaj carried his mother in his arms and walked outside. He had heard Zack so he hurried to him. Zack, Cloud, and Tifa ran up to him.
"Aerith?" Tifa leaned closer.
"…Take care of her," Kadaj said, handing her to Zack. Kadaj looked at his mother with one last look and went to find Yazoo and Loz.
"Aerith?" Zack looked at her in his arms. "What's wrong?"
The ringing in her head faded away and she shook her head. "I'm… not sure…" she replied. She smiled up at Zack. "But I'm fine now."
"Let's get out of here first," Cloud said, looking back at the Zetsumei.
Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz went to the furtherest old shed near the entrance of the village. The three of them rushed inside. The Zetsumei chased them, doing as Yuffie had told them.
The noises of the motorcycles were heard by the time they were close enough to the shed. Three big black motorcycles burst out of the shed and drove pass them. Kadaj drove ahead of the other two, Yazoo in the middle, and then Loz. The Zetsumei followed them out of the village.
Genesis and Angeal looked around for Vincent but he was not in sight. There was not enough time to search for him. "We have his cell phone number. We'll call him after all of this," Genesis said.
Angeal nodded. The two of them flew into the sky.
Kiku arrived at the village. It was almost empty by the time she came. She could hear the Zetsumei and a couple of voices from afar. A few were still around, finishing up their little bloody breakfast. She walked back to where she last saw Yuffie and the redhead girl. Nobody was there. Kiku turned around with a sigh. She only had one Image Weapon in her, but it is not like she needs more. One is more than enough for her.
It's Yuffie that she is worried about. I wonder if Yuffie has the rest of them… She thought.
Vincent had lost sight of Yuffie in the forest. He stopped running around and realized that he had left his group members behind back at the village. His cell phone started ringing and he quickly picked it up. "Yes?" he asked.
"Where are you?" Angeal's voice came on.
Vincent looked around to see where he was. As if that would help. He looked up at the trees. He jumped to the branches and stood on top of the tree. He saw Angeal and Genesis flying in the sky not too far from where he was. "Over here," Vincent replied.