The Red Wand
Chapter IX: Extermination
(Play The Black Mages: J-E-N-O-V-A Final Fantasy VII)
"What the hell? The music changed!"
"That was me. Little specialty of my character, if I so choose I can switch around the battle music for those in my party."
"Oh so I'm in your party now?"
"Take a look at your menu."
Sure enough, the girl looked at the menu and saw the character images of Xenmaru and Alicia next to hers.
Before the girl could comment, Xenmaru had leapt and knocked the both of them to the side, as the black mass fired a multicolored beam of energy at where she once stood.
"Damn thing's been doing that since I first fought it!"
Yeah, it's definitely infected…So what should we do? Take it down of course…
"Alicia! You stay back and cast alright? Stay on the defensive, only attack when you're SURE you have an opening!"
Alicia distanced herself from the enemy.
"Alright…Natsume was it? You think you dance with me?"
"Hmph, this? This'll be nothing."
The two smirked at each other and drew their weapons. Natsume drew her cloud-like blades, while Xenmaru drew his katana. It glowed a soft purple light.
Natsume charged first, sweeping her blades in a sideways swipe, which was blocked by her copy. The monster raised its free hand, charging its attack, when it rolled to the side to avoid a downward slash from Xenmaru's blade. The girl took that moment to strike, and landed a powerful smash into the beast's face, knocking it back and into a wall.
Xenmaru hurled his katana like a spear, hoping to impale the monster, but it rolled to the side just in time, the sword embedding itself into the wall. The creature flickered and vanished, and suddenly Natsume was submitted to the same treatment it was. Suddenly, the creature roared in pain, distracting it from the girl, who was promptly healed by Alicia. It turned its head to find a scythe sticking out of its back. It wrenched it out and tossed it to the side, vanishing, intending to strike Xenmaru.
He watched the creature vanish, and raised his right hand. Instantly, it slammed into the odd shaped blade that had appeared in his hand. It looked like a small trident, attached to a Celtic cross. Xenmaru knocked the monster into the air, and drew a second weapon, identical to the first. He swung the right weapon into its side, knocking some health off of it, and followed up with a back kick to its face. He then leapt and slashed his left blade, cutting into its health again. Using the momentum from the slash in the air, he spun himself, to basically saw into the monster. Alicia and Natsume watched as the Doppelganger's health dropped dramatically from the assault.
"Alicia! Attack now!"
The girl nodded, and fired a spell.
"Lei Zas!" A beam of light shot from the girl's hands, and slammed into the monster, knocking it, once again, into a wall.
Xenmaru finished his spin, and landed. From the dust, came a beam of energy aimed at Alicia. The beam impacted on a dome of light she called forth, and splintered; ineffective.
Alicia fired another light beam, and suddenly blue and purple rings began surrounding it. Xenmaru smiled at Natsume, nodding. She charged up, and dashed forward.
RENGEKI
"Whirlwind!"
Xenmaru and Alicia watched the damage.
"Sweet. Almost there…"
Natsume hopped backwards to avoid her clone's retaliatory attack.
I wonder why it's not using any skills…
Suddenly it vanished.
"Cra-
It re-appeared behind Natsume...and a moment later, a series of slashes encompassed her entire body, knocking her health down to nearly nothing, and making the rings appear.
"Oh SHIT!"
Xenmaru tried to move, but it was too late.
RENGEKI
"Shiranui Upper!"
The monster dashed at Natsume, slashing wildly. Left, right, left, right, down-right, up-left, cross, flip double-slash, double back-flip kick, and finally a straight uppercut to the face, followed by a leap and a double handed slam back to the ground.
"Damn!"
Xenmaru quickly whipped out a Revival Medicine, and used it on Natsume. Thankfully, he made it just in time. Alicia blasted the doppelganger away again, and the two rushed over to see if she was alright.
"Hey, you ok?"
"Huh? Where am I? Who are you?"
"Uhh…Natsume…?"
"Yes?"
"You…don't remember who we are?"
"I know you?"
"Yes…"
Alicia and Xenmaru looked at each other.
"What…do you remember?"
"I remember walking through a dungeon…and then reaching the beast statue…after that…I don't know."
She looked up at them.
Her eyes are closed?
"Uhh…Natsume, why are your eyes closed?"
"What do you mean? They always look like that; it's the way I designed my character."
Then why were her eyes open when we met her? I don't know…
"Strange…your eyes were open when we met you…"
"Really? Oh…I guess then you met the other me…"
"Other…you?"
"Yes, a friend of mine told me I seem to have two sides. The normal me, and the other me. He said the other me is almost the complete opposite…but I never remember anything from what it did."
"She's insane." "No…she has split personalities. Kinda like that Bo kid. Only instead of it being an entirely different persona, with their own life and name, it's still her, just less…whatever the normal her is." "Like I said, she's insane."
Xenmaru rolled his eyes at Alicia, and suddenly tensed. In his mind he saw a bright flash. Quickly he grabbed Natsume around the waist, causing the girl to blush, and used Alicia as a spring-board to propel all three of them in opposite directions.
Alicia was about to yell at him when she saw the bright beam of energy that pierced through the spot they were just standing.
He…how did he know?
Suddenly, the area vanished. They were now standing on absolutely nothing. The area around them looked like open space.
"This…isn't good."
Aina had managed to find her brother. Using him as a medium, she relayed her message to all of the Infinity Eight, who met in the area she instructed them. Unsurprisingly enough, Aura, Zefie, and Morgana appeared as well. She rushed ahead as soon as they all arrived, surprising everyone. They chased after her. They watched as she literally plowed through anything in her way.
"Ovan…what the HELL has your sister been eating?"
"I…can't say I know Haseo. This is unusual…even for her."
Zefie spoke. "What I wanna know is how the kid is able to smash through those things!"
"I wonder…If that Alicia person…had something to do with it."
"COME ON! OPEN UP!"
They reached the Beast Temple area. However, the door wouldn't open.
They saw Aina banging on it.
"Open up! OPEN DAMN YOU!"
They all blinked.
"I think she's been hanging around Haseo too much."
"Shut up Pai!"
"XENMARU-NII! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
A voice rang out.
"Aina? Is that you?"
"Xenmaru-nii! I brought the others! But this stupid door wont open!"
She kicked it again, and everyone heard Xenmaru's chuckle.
"Now now Aina, that's not very Ladylike of you."
"I don't care! I want this stupid door OPEN!"
Everyone noticed how she began to glow a soft purple.
"I don't know how I can help; we're stuck in that weird space that shows up whenever an Avatar comes into play. Problem is, all that's here is this weird cocoon thing. I don't like the looks of it though."
Pai spoke up. "Is there any way you can open a gate from your end?"
…Nothing.
"HEY! ANSWER ME!"
Still nothing.
"Xenmaru-nii! Can you make a gate from inside?"
"I don't think I can…but…"
"Alicia, can you?"
"I can try…"
The girl closed her eyes, and let out a sigh of air.
She began glowing softly, a sickly black. The energy gathered around her and shot in front of her, slowly forming a doorway.
"Now why the hell did you answer her and not me?!"
Nothing. The only response was the door pulsing black.
Yata mused. "Maybe he can only hear Aina for some reason…"
Saku stepped in. "That makes no sense! Why would he be able to hear her?"
Morgana pitched in. "Perhaps…it has something to do with his avatar."
They all looked at her.
"Yes…mother is right…Xenmaru-sama's avatar is Cubia…Aina…embraced Cubia's existence for a short time, and as such she was linked to it in a very slight manner. Perhaps it's through that link, that Xenmaru is able to hear Aina wherever he is."
Endrance piped up. "Then why can we hear him? If the link exists as you said, then wouldn't Aina be the only one to hear him?"
Zefie spoke. "No…because he has some of Grandmother in his data as well. And you all have Avatars…so you can hear him…just not speak to him."
Khun mused. "That makes sense…but what did he mean by cocoon?"
Aina spoke. "We're about to find out! The gate's open! Come on!"
She rushed through, followed by the others.
(Play .hack GU: Avatar Space)
"Xenmaru-nii!" Aina rushed to him and hugged him.
"Hey kiddo. You got everyone?"
"Yes! Aura-nee-chan, Zefie-nee-chan, and Morgana-chan all came too!"
His face darkened slightly. "Really now."
Alicia slowly stepped behind him.
"Natsume? Why are you here?"
"I don't know. Xenmaru and Alicia said I was the one fighting…that thing, originally. It must have been the other me…because I don't remember."
Everyone looked up and saw the cocoon.
"Well…doesn't that look interesting?"
Pai saw the girl attempting to hide behind Xenmaru. "You must be Alicia."
She looked at them, and nodded.
"My name is-
"Pai. Epitaph Wielder of the Seventh Phase, Tarvos."
Everyone blanched. "Y-yes! How did you know that?!"
She stepped away from Xenmaru. A black aura emanated from her.
Aura floated forward.
"Hello…shadow of myself."
"WHAT?!"
"Hello yourself pacifist."
"M-mother? That's…"
"Yes…she is my other half. Though I still don't understand…"
"Blame Morgana-teme over there."
Morgana looked confused. Sad, but still confused. He still hates me…
"What are you talking about?!"
"Alicia was created when Morgana attempted to corrupt Aura, and link her existence to the Human Wavemaster known as Tsukasa. Tsukasa had a troubled past, and was the perfect choice to attempt to silence Aura forever. Filling her with constant negative emotions and data, she managed to get Aura over halfway to being corrupted, when Tsukasa renounced Morgana, and her troubled past, and awoke Aura as the Child of Light Harald wished for."
"That still doesn't explain how she came into existence though."
"If you'd let me finish Chesty LaRue; you'd find out."
Pai fumed but said nothing.
"Alicia's existence started from the sudden dissaperance of all the negative data Tsukasa had collected within Aura. Normally, such data would scatter…but Morgana was still going wild. Every day more and more data combined with what was already there, until it slowly became a sentience of its own. It wasn't until R:1 ended that she fully awoke however. She slept until Haseo entered the game, in which she saw him getting owned by those twits Iyoten and Asta. She watched as the AIDA emerged, and got even more negative data from it. When Aura woke up again, she was now filled with that negativity, and decided to enact her revenge. I just so happened to wake Morgana at the same time she began her plans. And the first thing on her mind was to kill Morgana. Of course, since I ended up with a claim on her life, that goal was ended."
Zefie stepped in front of Aura protectively.
"So you plan on Killing Aura."
"Oh please…I'm not an idiot. Killing Aura would do me no good…" Here she looked over to Xenmaru, a strange look in her eyes. "Only harm…no…my goal isn't to kill Aura. I wouldn't mind beating the living shit out of her for a while…but I'm not going to kill her."
"As if I believe that!"
Alicia looked at Aura. "Are you sure she's our daughter?"
Aura giggled. "yes…she is. If you look closely, she seems to act like you slightly."
Suddenly, the area rumbled.
The cocoon in the sky began glowing.
"Oh great…what's going to happen now?"
"AIDA…hundreds…no…millions!"
"Alicia?"
"They're all coming to this one point!"
"Huh?!"
"I can feel them! All of them! That cocoon…this is going to be their last stand!"
"Well then…lets give them a fight to remember."
The black particles all swarmed to the cocoon in the center. The cocoon gave a huge flash of light…
The final battle for The World…had begun…
Alright people, I want monster ideas. This thing is gonna be big. I've used the barbells, and I've used a dragon already. I need something that fits with AIDA, and would be pretty badass to see. The last few chapters are coming.
Rainfire: yes, I'm alive. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. The battle for this one didn't go as well as I had hoped, but it works. A big surprise is coming in the next couple chapters…
PirateCaptainBo: Glad you enjoyed it. Here's the next update!
ShadowWolf255: Yep, you got it!
Yamimaru: I brought Natsume in because she's already in GU, and I always did like her. My original specs had plans for Xenmaru to encounter Boredeaux, Shino, Tabby and a few others that Haseo did…but I could never figure out how to work them in. Seeing as this is one of the last chapters of this story, its unlikely anyone else is going to show up. Also, I know that Natsume in-game is unaware of her PKing side. However, since this takes place a while after GU, it's safe to assume SOMEONE, probably Haseo, would tell her. I still wonder how that side came to be…perhaps it's a side effect of being Data Drained in the first four games…seeing as she DID have a confidence problem back then…
The story is slowly coming to a close…