This chapter is dedicated to my good friend Sheldon Yeung
Sisterly Love Chapter 15: The End Of A Rival
Lightning's doppelganger flew at her with blinding speeds, however the strawberry blond was able to block the attack easily with her newly acquired Blazefire Saber turning the clone off in
another direction using the momentum to send it into the nearby wall. Dust fell from the ceiling as the doppelganger shook the foundation of the building from it's missed attack don't want
that to be me Lightning thought as she watched her clone recover preparing for it's next attack. Lightning brought her sword back up to her chest and switched it into gun mode, the weapon
made the transition flawlessly just as the clone made another attack run towards her. Deflecting the thing once more Lightning fired at it's defenseless back sending it back into the wall with
more force than the first time, but this time the young woman wasted no time in waiting around for her clone to recover as she dashed right in after it switching her gun into sword mode
blindly swinging as she was blinded by the falling dust. Lightning's sword arm recoiled as she struck something that she soon found to be the doppelganger's body, receiving a kick to the
stomach she flew backwards and slid across the floor back flipping and landing on her feet Lightning looked up to see the deathly figure already in her face landing a hard punch to her
stomach knocking her to the ground. Lightning coughed uncontrollably as she struggled into a kneeling a position before her clone who stared down at her coldly, Lightning quickly brought
her left leg around quickly and brought the clone's feet out from under 'her' knocking the thing to the ground. Lightning went to stab her sword through it's chest but the thing quickly rolled
to the side avoiding the attack and kicked Lightning in the side of her head as she struggled to get her sword out of the marble floor. Lightning fell to the ground her entire world and vision
was dizzy as her world spun as she struggled to climb to her feet but fell back to the ground as her arms could not support herself. The pale clone stood over the now helpless girl as Lightning
tried to keep from passing out holy shit that thing has a strong kick! she thought as she looked up into the clone's white eyes, quickly Lightning switched her Blazefire Saber into gun mode and
fired multiple rounds into her doppelganger's chest forcing Jihl's creation off of her. Taking this opportunity Lightning jumped to her feet and landed her own kick to the thing's head knocking
it to the floor, switching her gun to sword mode Lightning was about to move forward but hesitated this thing is your complete double it knows what move your going to make and when. It also
knows your next two to three steps before you even process them into your mind. Jihl's voice rang out in Lightning's head as she remembered the woman's words clearly as she viewed the
clone carefully not wanting to walk into a trap. Slowly Lightning stopped walking and frowned at the clone that lay before her not moving a single muscle.
"Hey Jihl I think I broke your little toy." Lightning called out her voice echoing around the empty room as she turned in a circle to make sure Jihl would not ambush her.
"Oh Lightning why must you always be so reckless." Jihl replied her voice echoing around the room. "But no need to worry I'm preparing a little surprise for you right now."
"Oh my like I haven't had enough of them already." Lightning answered turning back to her clone that was no longer where she had last seen it. "Mother fu-" Lightning was cut off as she felt
something hit the back of her head and quickly knocked her out.
Back at the Farron residence Serah, Cloud, Amodar, Fang , Hope , Snow, Sazh, and Vanille were all sitting around in the living room anxiously awaiting Lightning's arrival.
"So everyone." Serah started standing up and motioning for Cloud to follow got every ones attention "This is Cloud. He's me and Lightning's older brother!" She said excitedly to the group.
"Really!?" Snow asked loudly out of shock.
"Yeah!" Serah answered happily.
"How'd he find you girls?" Vanille asked looking over the man with a careful eye.
"Well he saved us from a bunch of 'Cie corpses just as Lightning was about to be killed." Serah answered quickly.
"Oh." Was the solemn response from the group of friends.
"But were all here!" Vanille answered cheerily trying to raise the morale of the group.
"No were not Vanille, Lightning isn't here." Fang said giving the young girl a smack on the back of her head.
"Oh sorry." The red-head replied rubbing her head.
"No problem she'll be fine." Serah answered confident in her sister's abilities and skill to defeat Jihl.
"Mmmm." Lightning moaned groggily lifting her head to look around the room but she couldn't see anything because her vision was still blurry from the injury her head attained.
"What the hell." The strawberry blond muttered to herself as she rubbed the back of her head that was still aching from the hilt of the clone's Blaze Edge.
"Ah your awake." Jihl's voice came from the front of the grounded girl.
"What do you want?" Lightning asked trying to clear her vision by rubbing her eyes but it wouldn't work.
"You, of course Lightning." Jihl answered her back still turned away from the young woman, by her side was the doppelganger who knocked Lightning unconscious.
"Ugh." Lightning groaned dropping her head back onto the floor as she was to exhausted to keep it up. It was at this time that she looked around to see where she was, Lightning figured
that they were in the middle of the mist enshrouded part of the abandoned PSICOM building. The reason she thought this was because of the black mist that lingered in the air making it very
difficult to see that and the fact that Lightning's vision was still blurry and it didn't seem like it would be going anywhere.
"So what's this surprise you wanted to show me?" Lightning asked her voice raspy as the mist made it some what difficult to breath.
"In good time my dear but not now." Jihl answered turning to face the young girl that lay before her, Lightning struggled a bit but was able to climb to her feet feeling a looming prescense
over her that made her uneasy. "Ha ha ha." Laughter emanated from Lightning's throat as Jihl frowned at the young woman for her sudden sense of humour.
"What's so funny my dear?" Jihl asked confused by the girl's change of mood, looking her over Jihl saw that there was something dark about the Lightning before her. Her reason for this
was that Lightning's voice had became ice cold and she hadn't moved an inch since her change in mood.
"You are Jihl. You think that your in control that's what's funny." Lightning's cold voice barked out at the blond woman.
"Oh re-" Jihl was cut off as Lightning quickly bounded up to her and gave her a hard punch to the gut knocking the former lieutenant colonel out cold.
"Cloud what's wrong?" Serahasked her face taking on a worried expression as she put a hand on her older brother's shoulder.
"Nothing, I gotta go." The spiky haired man said standing up from his seat and grabbing his Fusion sword that lay on the table in front of him.
"Why?" Serah asked standing with him.
"It concerns Lightning, something isn't right with her." Cloud explained putting a hand on Serah's shoulder.
"Oh. Well then go and make sure she's safe." Serah said quietly, Cloud nodded and headed to the door "Cloud!" Serah called out to the man maing him stop.
"Yeah?" He called back looking over his shoulder.
"Protect her. She may not want it but protect her." Serah told him.
Jihl's eyes fluttered open as a searing pain was sent up her spine, the first thing she saw was Lightning leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and her head down
making it impossible to read her expression. The blond woman took in her predicament as she looked up and down- her arms were held up above her head by thick chains and her legs
were bound together by the same chains. Groaning Jihl got Lightning's attention for the young woman looked over to see that her rival had awaken, walking over Lightning's face was devoid
of expression. Stopping in front of her Lightning took a long hard look into Jihl's eyes where she saw slight fear in them, smirking she took a step back to think of what to do to the woman.
"So how does it feel to be in this position?" Her voice was still cold as ice.
"What are you doing Lightning?" Jihl asked frowning at the woman. "The heroine never does this kind of stuff."
"Than consider me of a new breed." Lightning replied walking over to bag of supplies Jihl had on a table located in the corner.
"What are you-" Jihl started to say.
"Shut up or I'll make you!" Lightning yelled over to the woman s she started to go through the contents of the bag, the strawberry blond pulled out the artificial magic devices.
"Look what we have here Jihl, you had so much fun using these." Lightning said walking up to the woman holding the circular devices up to the blond's face. "But you have no need for them
anymore." Lightning said throwing them up to the air while pulling her Blazefire Saber from it's holstered and proceeded to shoot the metal objects obliterating them.
"Hmm your right." Jihl answered smugly stil able to keep her cocky demeanor despite her position.
"Shut up Jihl." Lightning snapped again as she took out another object from the bag. "Ha ha ha oh my Jihl you remember this?" She asked while laughing and holding up the object of her
humour. "Uh yeah." Jihl swallowed audibly as she glanced over at the large red gag ball that Lightning held in her hand.
"Were you planning on using this on me again?" She asked the woman while glaring at her.
"I can't sneak anything by you can I?" Jihl asked in a joking manner.
"I'm not laughing Jihl." Lightning responded with a straight face.
"You never do." Her captive shot back.
"I've heard enough out of you." Lightning snarled taking the ball in her hand and shoving it into Jihl's mouth making the blond woman gag as she tilted her head back, Lightning quickly locked
it into place and threw Jihl's head back down roughly. The long haired woman looked in confusion to see the clone of Lightning just standing idly by doing nothing to prevent her from hurt.
"I casted a stop spell on your little play thing here if your wondering." Lightning explained upon seeing Jihl's frustrated gaze.
"Mmmph!" Jihl growled out of frustration as she attempted to break free of the chains only to fail miserable as Lightning laughed at her pathetic attempts.
"Doesn't feel so good does it?" She mocked throwing her head back in laughter remembering the times that Jihl had her tied up, suddenly the young strawberry blond turned around and
landed a punch flush on Jihl's jaw making the woman moan out in pain as she walked back over to the bag of stuff Jihl had planned to use on her. Lightning frowned as she grabbed hold of a
rusty metal pole like object, pulling it out she saw that it was a branding iron with the Sanctum's crest as the brand, laughing the young woman walked back over to Jihl with the pole in hand.
"You were gonna brand me?" She asked coldly using one end of the pole to lift Jihl's chin to look up at her face, in response Jihl nodded 'yes'.
"Well then I guess I won't let this go to waste. Oh look at the brand huh how clever Jihl so this would have said that I belonged to the Sanctum and was their pet?" Lightning asked.
"Mmmph." Jihl nodded yes once more.
"But your not with the Sanctum anymore." Lightning stated walking around Jihl in a circle like a tiger about to pounce on it's prey.
"Mmmph?" Jihl moaned confused at what the woman was getting at.
"Than I guess I'll have to mark you as their pet also." Lightning replied with an evil smirk on her face.
Cloud had just exited the Farron home and was heading down the front steps when he stopped because he had the sensation that someone was watching him, whirling around he saw
Yaag Rosch leaning against the house. "What are you doing here?" The spiky haired man asked pulling his fusion sword from it's holster.
"Lightning's not here is she?" The man asked stepping away from the wall of the house.
"No, but what do you care?" Cloud asked frowning at why the lieutenant colonel wanted to know where his little sister is.
"She's my friend. It's normal to feel concerned for your friend's safety." Yaag responded.
"Is it also normal to try and kidnap your friends?" Cloud asked remembering the time Lightning had told him of when Yaag beat her up in the interrogation and held her prisoner.
"Listen I was only doing my job." Yaag shot back clearly angry with the accusation.
"By hurting her?" Cloud asked knowing that it was part of the man's job but he still asked for the hell of it.
"I also protected her!" Yaag yelled "do you have any idea how many of my men wanted to rape her? their a sick bunch so I brought her into my office so she was safe and always in my sight!"
"Huh." Was Cloud's only response he knew by the pain in Yaag's voice that the man truly did care for his little sister.
"See I do care now where is she?" Yaag asked taking a few steps towards the spiky haired man before him.
"You...love her don't you?" Cloud asked already knowing the man was deeply in love with his younger sibling, Yaag was silent for a moment before answering.
"...Yes." He replied ducking his head. "I've loved her for many years now, and I can't even express the pain I went through when she became a l'Cie and I got the assignment to kidnap her.
I just couldn't do it so I handed it off to Jihl, but I watched over her when that cold woman brought her in. I didn't want to see her get hurt anymore especially after I did...that!" Yaag said
sorrowfully. "Tell me...would you kidnap her if she were standing right where I am?" Cloud asked the love sick man.
"I...have to do my job, it's either that or die. But I might as well pass on if she does." Yaag answered the other man's question.
"Don't worry. She's got a lot of fight left in her, she'll be fine." Cloud assured placing his fusion sword back into it's holster.
"Yeah isn't that the truth." Yaag agreed getting a chuckle out of the comment of the young woman's ever relentless feisty attitude.
"It is, now I'm gonna go check on her. She was acting strange." Cloud shrugged as he turned back toward the road.
"Wait..let me help you." Yaag offered his help to the spiky haired individual.
"No. If you see her you'll have to detain her." Cloud spoke shaking his head at the man's help.
"Yes I guess your right thank you Mr. uh..."
"Name's Cloud. Cloud...Farron" The blond haired man provided as Yaag nodded in response.
"So then your her-"
"Older brother yes." Cloud nodded.
"Hmm about time you showed up. She really needs someone older than her to look over her." Yaag said as Cloud started down the street with a wave and a nod.
"MMMMPH!" Jihl cried out into her gag as Lightning brutally shoved the hot poker against her exposed skin, Lightning smirked as she threw the poker aside and pulled her Blazefire Saber from
it's holster running her hand along it's blade she prepared to put the final blow into her rival's chest. Pulling the sword back as far as she could Lightning started an over the shoulder attack
but just as she was about to finish her rival off an extremely loud ringing noise rang out in her head. Lightning missed her attack because of the ringing, instead cutting the chains that held
Jihl in half effectively freeing her. Falling to the ground Lightning held her head in pain as the ringing continued to get higher pitched, however she seemed to be back to her normal self as she
couldn't remember the events since being knocked out by her clone. Looking up the strawberry blond saw Jihl had gotten the rest of the chains off of her legs and was now standing up and
drawing her cobalt sword. "I don't know how you always find yourself in this position but you really messed up this time Lightning." Lightning muttered to herself as the ringing seemed to die
down a little. Standing up she brought her sword to her chest with a groan as Jihl readied her own weapon, suddenly Jihl smiled knowingly and relaxed her posture.
"What are you so happy about?" Lightning asked frowning at the woman but still keeping her defensive stance up.
"Oh back to normal are you dear?" Jihl asked confusing Lightning more.
"I...guess." She replied thinking Jihl was playing mind games with her.
"Good now listen carefully." Jihl instructed walking over to the bag of supplies that still lay untouched on the table.
"What are you do-" Lightning was quickly cut off by Jihl.
"Be quiet little girl learn to respect her elders." Jihl said quickly flustering Lightning making her face turn red out of frustration.
"Arrgh." All Lightning could manage was a growl of frustration at the blond woman.
"Good girl now as I was going to say before you so rudely interrupted me was that I placed several large bombs on the foundation of this building." Jihl started causing Lightning's face to
drain of all color. "Why would you do that!?" Lightning yelled at the woman her frustration and anger getting the better of her.
"Because were both extremely talented and I want to test our skills with a time limit." Jihl answered pulling a switch from the bag and holding it up for the young woman to see.
"You gotta be kidding me Jihl are you out of your mind!?" Lightning asked with her mouth gaping open.
"Why yes dear I am." Jihl replied smiling sadistically as she pressed the button before tossing the small mechanism to the side and one again preparing her sword for the upcoming battle.
Lightning sighed as she braced herself for the upcoming fight of her life no doubt the most difficult obstacle that she has ran into up until this point in her life was standing right across from
with the same intentions- of coming out alive, but Lightning was comfortable because she felt her father right there beside her. The two women jumped at each other their blades colliding
with Lightning's more powerful weapon pushing Jihl back a bit gaining the advantage. The stalemate went on for a few minutes until Lightning managed to push the long haired woman over
but Jihl was able to get out of the sticky situation by using the forward momentum to throw Lightning over her head and into the metal wall. Lightning fell to the floor and quickly jumped to
her feet seemingly unaffected by the impact of crashing into the wall as she casted a blizzaga spell on Jihl forcing Jihl to take the defensive therefore giving her time to take the offensive and
get into melee range of the woman. Lightning swung her sword vishously her anger for the crazed lieutenant colonel taking over as she tried to do what she wanted most- to crush the woman,
Jihl was able to block all of the attacks with some difficulty as the power of the weapon the young woman wielded. After a few minutes of Lightning pressing her advantage Jihl was able to spin
off to the side just as Lightning brought her sword down exposing the strawberry blond's whole backside. Jihl didn't waste this oppurtuinity as she brought her own sword down carving down
Lightning's back. Lightning let out loud cry of pain as she arched her back and fell to the floor with small whimpers escaping her lips, Jihl smirked walking around the grounded warrior and lifted
her chin using her sword. Lightning glared up at the woman while clenching her teeth from the searing pain in her back Jihl smiled again as she saw by her opponents facial expression that
she was in great pain. "Only ten more minutes Lightning." She told her smiling down at the younger girl, Jihl moved her sword out of the way allowing Lightning's head to drop back onto the
floor. Lightning moaned out in pain as she pulled herself back to her feet "You'll regret not killing me Jihl." She told the woman while breathing heavily and fighting through the pain.
Lightning made the first move as she brought her sword down on the woman but it was much slower than her usual crisp lightning fast attack because the injury to her back was slowing her
down considerably. The result was Jihl easily avoiding it and jabbing the hilt of her sword into Lightning's side causing a loud ear splitting crack to echo on the empty floor, Lightning fell
to the floor with the wind knocked out of her from Jihl's attack which probably broke and cracked a couple of her ribs. Lightning pressed her face into the floor as she struggled to get the air
back into her lungs, sliding up onto her knees Lightning rested her head on her arms as she took in deep breaths of air. Jihl stood confidently over the grounded woman obviously feeling
that she had the fight won. Quickly Lightning casted a firaga spell on the woman and jumped up into the air landing gracefully behind the l'Cie landing a few slashes with her sword on the
woman's back. Jihl arched her back now with the same injury that Lightning's had sustained and whirled around to face the young woman who had inflicted the damage, bringing her sword
up the blond was able to block the remaining attacks that the strawberry blond had left for her, which were getting a little faster as she grew accustomed to the pain in her back as it dulled.
As Lightning's onslaught of attacks came to an end Jihl took her turn throwing her own attacks at the young woman forcing her into a defensive position, the blond continued to bring her
sword down as hard as she could with each time she connected making Lightning slide back a couple of feet from the force of the attack. Quickly Jihl jumped back and her sword started to
glow a light blue color, bringing her sword arm back behind her she extended her arm and brought it back forward quickly sending a light blue burst of energy towards her opponent.
Lightning saw this and tried to avoid it by jumping up over Jihl but as she landed she turned around to see that the energy blast had followed her, with no time to move the light blue blast
connected with the l'Cie exploding on impact sending her all the way across the length of the floor slamming into the wall. Lightning pulled herself to her feet to see Jihl coming back at her
again, bringing her sword to her chest Lightning blocked Jihl's incoming attack and parried the next effectively landing her own attack on the long haired woman. Lightning continued to
take the offensive in what seemed to be a never ending cycle of each woman taking turns on the offensive and defensive, the strawberry blond landed several attacks on the former
lieutenant colonel beating up her body as bad as her own was however Jihl seemed to be unaffected by this as she continued to block the younger girl's attacks easily. Lightning looked
to her right and mentally swore, she saw that her clone was now free from the stop spell and was coming right for her. Shifting her position to face both of her opponents Lightning used
her sword hand to block Jihl's attack and her free hand to send a thundaga spell the doppelganger's way. The shifty thing was able to evade the magical spell and get into close quarters
with Lightning and Jihl, Lightning blocked both their attacks and handspringed backwards to create some distance between herself and her opponents desperately thinking and searching
for a way to even the playing field. But the clone, and Jihl made it impossible to let her think for long as they were right up in her face within seconds. Lightning was able to fight the two
off by alternating her attack patterns from one to the other, suddenly the strawberry blond landed a kick on the side of her clone's face knocking it to the ground and giving her time to
focus on Jihl. Lightning landed a couple of attacks on the woman before her doppelganger was back on the offensive Lightning cursed as it landed a few attacks on her pinning her back
to the wall. Lightning ducked her clones incoming punch and jabbed the hilt of her sword into the thing's stomach knocking it back quite a ways giving her time to fend Jihl off as she started
attacking the other woman, their swords clashing as Lightning had enough force behind her attacks to start forcing her backwards. In a matter of seconds the doppelganger was back
in the fight as it started swinging it's Blaze Edge down on the strawberry blond. Finally it was able to bring it's sword down connecting with Lightning's left shoulder, her armor that rested
there did a good job of deflecting the strike but was unable to absorb all of the damage as it sent her arm recoiling back as she dropped down to one knee shortly after bringing her
other hand up to hold her injured shoulder. Lightning breathed heavily looking up at Jihl and her clone wondering what they would do next, she felt light headed from the blood loss she
had endured, blinking her eyes several times repeatedly Lightning saw small black spots dart across her vision signaling she would soon pass out.
"Three more minutes left in your life Lightning. I hope you enjoy them." Jihl spoke smugly as she raised her sword above her head ready to deliver the final blow to her beautiful rival, but
as she was about to come down something hit Jihl and sent her into the adjacent wall, and shortly after the doppelganger followed suit, Lightning looked back up to see who had come to
her rescue. "Cloud." She said quietly her voice hoarse.
"I'm here Lightning." Cloud started kneeling down beside his little sister and putting his hand on her back to help comfort her. "And I'm going to protect you no matter what."
"T-thanks." Lightning stuttered as Cloud handed her a high potion- it wasn't much but it was enough to get the fight back into her.
"No problem." The older sibling replied helping Lightning to her feet as Jihl and her clone stepped forward for another round, Lightning sighed as she brought her sword up to her chest as
she prepared herself for the next assault. "You take my clone. I want Jihl." Lightning told Cloud who nodded in response, before their opponents had any time to react Cloud took a quick
lunge towards his little sister's clone knocking it through the window of the large building, Lightning saw both Cloud and her doppelganger take off to the roof of the building for their fight.
Lightning quickly too the offensive as Jihl was caught by surprise as she was watching Cloud and the clone go at it, a quick slash across the woman's stomach brought Jihl back to reality.
Only three minutes Lightning gotta make this quick the strawberry blond thought to herself as she engaged Jihl in combat their powerful swords clashing, although she was in a fight for her
life Lightning couldn't help but think about how Jihl created those energy blasts. Jihl executed a perfect power attack that sent Lightning sliding back a few feet although she was still
standing, Lightning blocked the next few attacks and parried the last countering by carving another streak across Jihl's back which seemed to have no affect on the woman as she continued
to press the strawberry blond into a defensive postion. Jihl caught Lightning off guard with a hard punch to the face that would no doubt leave her with a black eye if she survives this
ordeal, the blond woman followed this up with slashing Lightning across her ribs with such force that she broke several of them. Lightning collapsed to the floor breathing heavily for the
second time. Suddenly Lightning got an idea, she looked up to see Jihl doing some action but did not pay any attention to it as she jumped up and slashed her sword as pink and red flashes
of light engulfed the entire room as the bombs Jihl had set went off causing the structure to start to collapse.
Cloud and Lightning's clone had just gotten onto the roof when the clone made the first move with a swift punch to the man's face, Cloud flew back from the force of the punch but was able
to land on his feet while raising his Fusion sword up into an offensive position as he lunged towards the thing at fast speeds. With a swing of his sword he sent the doppelganger towards
the edge of the roof but the slimy little thing was able to land on it's feet and jump back towards the man making Cloud take the defensive as the doppelganger continued to swing at Cloud
with it's sword over and over again. Cloud blocked each of them with ease before bringing his elbow up and smashing it off the clone's nose probably breaking it in several places as a
sickening black ooze dripped from it like it was it's blood. Cloud then brought his sword down crashing into the thing's skull but it was rock hard and didn't even make a dent in it, the clone
responded with a kick to Cloud's stomach strong enough to send him back a few feet. The blond man recovered in mid air and charged back towards the clone of his little sister, smashing
his large sword into it's side a bone crunching snapping sound echoing throughout the abandoned town of Bodhum. The doppelganger fell to the ground just as the building started to shake
and explode.
Jihl had taken out her own crimson red jem and cut it in half with her sword bringing forth her eidolon Ifrit, the large beast had an orange colored body and was considerably muscular
it's head had black armor plates on it and had horns that stretched back behind it's head and it wore several beads all over it's body it made Lightning think of Vanille. The fire breathing
beast leapt down to the floor making the entire building shake under it's force adding to the already unstable structure. Ifrit threw it's head back and breathed it's fire breath aimed for
Lightning but before it could hit the young woman her eidolon Odin stepped in front of it using it's shield to block the substance. Both Lightning and Odin took offensive positions as their
opponents took defensive stances, Lightning jumped at Jihl while Odin jumped at Ifrit all four of them collided in a test of strength. Lightning seemed to have the edge over Jihl but Ifrit
was beating Odin so the strawberry blond swiped her sword at the fiery eidolon giving a helping hand to her own summon, Odin also alternated targets by going on the attack swiping
his large double edged sword at Jihl which the blond woman blocked but was knocked back several feet. Lightning found herself quickly outmatched in terms of strength as she relied
on her speed to best the hell spawned creature. Quickly front flipping over the large eidolon Lightning proceeded to slash at the beast's back as it took a rush at Odin who blocked the
attack with his shield while simaltaniously landing an attack on Jihl sending her back. Lightning ran towards Odin and jumped up grabbing his hand allowing Odin to throw her high into
the air, the strawberry blond came down and landed a powerful attack on Jihl sending the blond woman into the wall. Moments later the young woman felt a searing pain resonate from
her back as Ifrit had landed a firaga spell on her, dropping to one knee Lightning switched her Blazefire Saber into gun mode and opened fire on the eidolon creating a distraction for Odin
to land a few hits of his own. The building started to collapse as the roof began to fall through allowing the moonlight to shine in through the several holes that now line the ceiling, not long
after the holes appear did Cloud and Lightning's clone fall through one of them and into the heat of the fight. Lightning jumped towards her clone kncking it back into the wall and she
continued to punch it in the face over and over again giving Cloud time to recover. Jumping to his feet the blond man rushed over and started to go to work on Jihl, landing several attacks
on the long haired woman as she was still a little dazed from assault Lightning had given her moments before. Ifrit swung his clawed hand and knocked Odin to the floor colliding with
Lightning and her doppelganger. Lightning felt the body of her eidolon fall against her back as she was pinned to the ground under it's massive frame, squirming she found it helpless as the
iron body was much too heavy for her to wiggle out of. Instead she switched her sword into gun mode and provided some cover fire for Cloud until Odin could regain his senses.
Cloud found himself taking on three opponents as once as Jihl, Ifrit, and the doppelganger were now standing as one before him, the clone made the first move- clearly the dumbest of the
three-which Cloud swung his sword like a baseball bat, knocking the clone across the stomach while it was in mid-air sending it across the room. Ifrit was the next to charge but was slowed
down by the bullets that Lightning shot at him, giving Cloud time to charge up his blade bean limit break as he brought his sword back and then forward just as the fire eidolon got in range.
The blue beam burst forth from his silver sword just as Ifrit touched the ground connecting head on with his head, and sending the orange beast tumbling backwards. Jihl jumped over her
injured eidolon and landed gracefully as she quickly dashed forward swiping her sword several times in succession at the spiky haired man, Cloud was able to block a few but the rest
penetrated his defense and cut him in several places. Odin was finally able to climb to his feet, freeing Lightning from his crushing of her gorgeous fit body, the young woman quickly jumped
to her feet and threw herself at Jihl knocking the woman away from her brother. Cloud recovered in time to block the incoming attack from his sister's clone and parried knocking the thing
away from him, which he followed up by throwing himself at the creation and landing several hard hits with his sword. Odin lunged towards Ifrit and swung his large sword forcing the other
eidolon into a defensive position as the fire being raised his clawed hands to block the attacks, with each hit sliding him back a few feet. Quickly the orange eidolon jumped over the taller
one and quickly slashed his claws across the knight king's back, which seemed to have no affect on him as he spun around and landed a slash from his sword across Ifrit's chest making
the wolf like creature howl in pain. Lightning poured powerful attacks upon Jihl as the other woman tried desperately to block each one, but barely succeeded as many of the strawberry
blond's attacks got through the blond's hasty defense as Lightning had her on the run. Cloud took another swing at the doppelganger as it came back for more with each hit he gave it
suddenly the clone fired a blizzaga spell at the unsuspecting man knocking him onto the ground from the shear power of the attack. Odin took another wild slash at Ifrit knocking the wild
beast back tumbling across the floor, he quickly jumped up into the air and came back down plunging his sword into the beast's chest. Lightning was knocked back by Jihl as the woman
shot another energy blast from her sword striking the young woman in the chest and proceeded to electricute her. Lightning cried out in pain before she dropped to the floor with shallow
breathing. Ifrit managed to climb to his feet with Odin's sword still protruding from his chest, grabbing the sword with both hands the eidolon threw the knight king, the king of Gods Odin
across the room with as much force as he could. Lightning looked up to see Jihl raising her sword above her head about to finish her off, the strawberry blond squeezed her eyes shut
knowing that there was no way to avoid the finishing blow that Jihl had in store for her. Suddenly a quick blur of white came across her vision and slammed into the crazed woman
sending her into the wall, now pinned to it by Odin's massive frame. Cloud jumped to his feet just avoiding the doppelganger's Blaze Edge, taking advantage of the clone's misfortune of
having it's sword stuck in the ground Cloud swung his sword with all his strength shattering the doppelganger's left hand disabling it of using magic. The clone swung it's hand to test out
if it still had the ability to do so, but it didn't, looking up the clone was met with one of Cloud's gloved fists to it's face knocking the deathly pale figure back sliding across the floor.
Odin pushed off a Jihl and raised his fist bringing it down shortly after, but Jihl was able to spin off to the side avoiding the bone crunching punch which sent Odin's hand through the thick
wall getting it stuck. Lightning climbed to her feet a bit wobbly as her legs felt numb turning to her right the young woman gasped as she saw Jihl's eidolon Ifrit coming at her full force
with a gaping hole in it's chest from where Odin's sword as been. Massive amounts of blood fell from the wound and Lightning could tell that it was slowly dying slowly but surely, Lightning
brought her sword up to her chest in a futile attempt at a defense. It was no chance as the bulldozer of a creature ran over her easily sending the strawberry blond clear across the room
and slamming into the far wall creating a large dent in the outline of her fit body. Groggily looking up Lightning saw the fire eidolon about to crush her small frame to dust as it was taking
another run at the helpless girl. As it neared closer Lightning's sensitive ears picked up the sound of it's thundering footsteps rumbling towards her, one the enemy was five feet in front
of her Lightning closed her eyes awaiting the end. Upon hearing a loud crash Lightning's eyes flew open to see Odin standing before her blocking Ifrit with his shield while looking over his
shoulder to see if the young woman was alright. Lightning nodded to her eidolon as she pushed herself off of the wall and moved towards her clone that lay a few feet away, jumping into
the air Lightning came down a moment later with great force. The blade of her Blazefie Saber connected with her double's stomach cutting deep into the fake flesh, forcing a black ooze to
drip from the wound. The doppelganger swung it's legs around and tripped the strawbery blond while standing up and landing a punch on Lightning's well muscled stomach, letting out a cry
Lightning rolled to the side as the crumbling building seemed to stabilize at an odd angle. Lightning looked up to see her clone land a punch on her eye instantly making it go numb, the
clone raised it's face once more but before it could deliver the blow a large buster sword swept it into the wall. Cloud offered his hand which Lightning took as her brother pulled her to her
feet. "Let's end this already." He said softly upon seeing his sister's heaving chest as she took in constant gulps of air exhausted from the strenuous activity, nodding Lightning turned
around and blocked Jihl's attack which would have been right in her chest if not for her amazingly quick reflexes. Odin and Ifrit were in a test of strength with none faltering under the other's
strength but Odin had the advantage and he knew it as Ifrit's strength was quickly diminishing from the wound the knight king had inflicted himself. With another push the king of gods was
able to push the hell spawn over following it up with a slash across it's chest and another stab into the ever widening gaping wound on it's front side. Ifrit scrambled to his feet swinging
his claws wildly at the holy knight, Odin easily blocked these futile attempts and followed it up with a slash across the beast's head. Lightning and Jihl were locked up in a sword dance as
one would take the offensive than switch back to the defensive and then repeat the cycle over again. Lightning was the first to draw blood as she connected with Jihl's shoulder throwing
it back in a recoiling motion as Lightning then threw a kick landing it on her head which knocked the blond woman to the ground. Lightning swung her sword down at the insane woman
who was able to avoid it and spring up to her feet backhanding Lightning across the face forcing the now glistening young woman to take a few steps back as she brought a hand up to
her stinging cheek. Cloud turned to see his little sister's clone just climbing out of the wall, he lunged forward with his sword pointing forward ready to plung it in the thing's heart if it even
has one but before the sword could touch the creation it caught the large weapon with it's hands. Cloud stared in shock as it lifted him off of the ground and threw him across the room.
Odin was about to finish Ifrit off when a black clad body flew into his own sending them both dangerously close to the edge of the room with the broken window. Lightning was at a
disadvantage having to face both Jihl and her own clone by herself, Jihl went first this time swinging her sword at the strawberry blond that Lightning easily blocked and spun gracefully
holding her sword above her head as she brought it down on the doppelganger while bringing her hand out and casting a wateraga spell on Jihl knocking both of her opponents back a few
steps giving herself room to work. The clone flew at her seconds later but Lightning flipped over her double switching her Blazefire Saber into gun mode and firing down at the thing, which
she followed up by switching it back to sword mode and slashing at Jihl which connected, carving a streak across her stomach making the blond woman hiss through clenched teeth.
Ifrit took the golden opportunity that lay before him as he lunged down at Odin pinning him to the ground with his head hanging over the broken window, Odin brought his double edged
sword up to his neck using it to push the fire eidolon from his tactical advantage but the other eidolon was to strong from it's vantage point as he continued to push Odin's sword down
to his neck as the taller eidolon pushed with all his strength. Cloud pulled himself to his feet and looked over to see Ifrit on top of Odin, quickly the blond man swung his sword connecting
with the orange creature's back. The large beast slowly turned around to see what had hit him, letting out a loud howl of anger as he saw the man before him, with a lunge the beast
took a wild swipe at Cloud with his large claws jumping to the side Cloud found no difficulty in dodging the slow attack which he countered with a whack of his sword upside the eidolon's
head. Jihl responded to Lightning's attack by blocking the next and following it up by landing a couple of attacks on the young woman, Lightning stumbled back just as the doppelganger
jumped over Jihl and landed it's own jump attack knocking the strawberry blond back. Lightning slid and then back flipped to regain her composure and ready herself for another round
bringing her sword up to her chest just as the clone arrived at her, the result being that the attack was easily blocked. Lightning pushed the clone back and swung her sword at Jihl as the
older woman stepped up to her, both women's swords collided as they locked with each other with one another pushing for the advantage. Odin jumped up and brought his double edged
sword down into Ifrit's back taking the eidolon's concentration away from Cloud, with a wild swing of his claws Ifrit turned to face the king of gods. Odin brought his sword up to his chest
as Ifrit swung at hi and breathed fire through his mouth, which Odin blocked both with his large shield, with a single swing of his giant sword Odin knocked the fire eidolon onto his back.
Lightning and Jihl were still battling eachother with their swords locked together, looking over the blond woman's shoulder Lightning saw Odin knock Ifrit over and an idea sparked in her
mind. "Cloud keep the goth busy!" Lightning yelled as she flipped over Jihl and started sprinting over to Odin despite her aching fit legs, Odin nodded as he saw the young woman running
over to him. He had expected her to jump the air and caught her by her free hand and twirled her upward while simultaneously switching into Gestalt form, the transformation just ending
as Lightning came to sit upon him giving her legs a much needed break. Cloud took Lightning's order and jumped at the clone of his sibling knocking it back with his large fusion sword,
said clone flew into the wall the force causing more of the roof to collapse down onto the thing's body. Turning around, Cloud was met with Jihl's fist as she knocked him into the wall.
Cloud kicked the woman in the stomach as he pushed himself off of the wall bringing his sword into Jihl's ribs as he did so. Retrieving Odin's sword from where it stuck out of the ground
Lightning and Odin took off towards Jihl, Cloud, and the doppelganger while Ifrit struggled to get back into fighting shape. Cloud saw Lightning and Odin coming towards him and he also
saw Lightning nodding her head to the right signaling for him to get out of the way. He did just that as he grabbed the clone and threw the pale figure out of the newly created hole
following after it shortly after. Now it was only Lightning, Jihl, and their eidolons in the room I gotta end this right now Lightning thought as her glistening body took in shaky breaths while
staring at Jihl, once more she felt the presence of her father right there beside her. The young woman turned around as she heard the tell tale thundering footsteps as she saw Ifrit running
towards her and her eidolon. Lightning fired a whirlwind at Jihl with Odin's sword forcing the woman into dodging the attack instead of forcing an offensive of her own, Odin quickly got out
of the way of Ifrit as he steamrolled past the two. Jihl hopped up onto Ifrit as he circled around her and the two prepared to fight the other duo that stood across from them, Jihl moved
her eyebrows up in a unasked question, Lightning rolled her eyes but nodded as she broke Odin's sword in two and tossed one over to the woman. Ifrit trotted around Lightning, and Odin
and went down to the other side of the floor leaving a great deal of distance between the two pairs. Lightning took in a deep breath before Odin went up in the air and started to run
towards Ifrit and Jihl picking up speed as they moved forward. Lightning readied her sword as Jihl did the same, once in range both women took a swing at each other, both swords clanking
against one another as not one of the l'Cie was able to connect with their opponent. Doing a quick u-turn at the end of the room Odin took another run at the pair, but this time it yielded
the same results Odin went to turn back but Lightning patted his head to keep him from going further as they stared down Jihl. Lightning looked up at the woman far down from herself but
her twenty-twenty vision was able to pick up that the blond was holding a small object in her hand, the strawberry blond let out a sigh as she realized Jihl had yet another trick up her sleeve.
"What is it Jihl?" Lightning called out somewhat relieved to have a break but at the same time terrified of what the woman may be plotting.
"This, my dear. Is a little switch that will bring down this entire building." Jihl explained holding the metallic object up in the air while staring at it with awe in her eyes.
"Another bomb huh?" Lightning asked shaking her head while looking down.
"That's right, only much much bigger." Jihl spoke coldly before pressing the button and tossing it aside. "You've got twenty minutes this time Lightning, and this time it's coming all the way
down!" Jihl yelled as the two eidolons ran towards one another. This time Lightning swung the large half of the sword with all her strength and managed in knocking the other half of Odin's
blade out of Jihl's hand also sending the l'Cie along with it. Lightning hopped off of Odin while throwing her half of his blade into the air, Odin transformed back into his knight form and
caught the other half of his blade that Lightning threw up to him as Jihl recovered from the attack. Odin took a swing at Ifrit as he came to a stop but his forward momentum brought him
into the knight king's waiting blade, Ifrit flew to the ground past Lightning and Jihl who were now trapped in a sword dance that seemed to have no end in sight. After a few minutes
Lightning caught Jihl's shoulder with her blade, the extra power the sword had cutting deep into her flesh. The blond woman retaliated inflicting the same injury upon the glistening young
woman causing her to cry out in pain, Lightning grabbed her shoulder as blood seeped from the wound. Odin was knocked back as Ifrit lowered his shoulder ramming into the tall eidolon,
Odin quickly recovered and knocked the fire beast back with his sword, Ifrit lunged back swiping with both claws forcing Odin on the defensive as he attacked ferociously. The tall knight
was able to block the attacks easily as Ifrit's strength was seriously diminished and was barely a gust of wind now, Odin brought his sword up to his chest before performing his special
attack Zanetsuken twirling his blade with extreme power cutting Ifrit up until he dropped to the floor dead and not moving. Lightning was hit once more as Jihl sent out an energy blast which
had no problem connecting with the young strawberry blond as Lightning was too injured to dodge the attack. Tumbling to the ground Lightning felt completely helpless as Jihl looked down
on her with a triumphant smirk painted on her face, squeezing her eyes shut Lightning conjured up memories of her mother, father, Cloud who she only knew for a little while and still liked
him very much, and her little sister Serah the most precious thing in her life. These memories gave Lightning the strength to fight on as she felt her father's presence beside her once more
and also in her sword- his old sword. Lightning hopped to her feet and quickly blocked Jihl's oncoming attack, feeling renewed with energy the strawberry blond was able to block out the
pain of her various wounds and fight on despite her toned fit body nearly reaching it's limits. Landing several attacks on Jihl, Lightning felt that now was the time to end the fight and put
away her fear of the woman for good. Lightning landed one last hit shattering Jihl's defense before jumping into the move her father had taught her, Lightning started slashing at the blond
l'Cie several times landing each strike with great power. Lightning then jumped back shooting at the woman with her Blazefire Saber in gun mode before jumping back and landing some
more attacks, finally Lightning spun in a complete circle with her sword held out in a striking position before executing a spin attack so powerful that it brought Jihl to her death bed thus
completing the move her father had taught her long ago-the army of one.
Cloud watched his little sister's doppelganger leap from the building and start sprinting down the street. The blond man did not head after the thing because the current thought on his
mind was that of his little sister's safety. Choosing to take the stairs instead of jumping down one of the many holes that plagued the roof Cloud made his way over to the staircase which
was only a short trip across the roof, quickly climbing down the stairs Cloud kicked open the door and gasped at what he saw, the scene made his blood run cold. Standing there in the
middle of the room was his little sister Lightning, she stood still not moving an inch with her head down staring at something on the floor the way her bangs covered her eyes casted an
eerie shadow over them hiding them from view. Cloud could feel a strange, dark, and powerful aura coming from the young woman who was covered in injuries from the intense battle
she had endured just moments ago. "Lightning?" Cloud asked before gasping as he realized what the object on the ground was. Laying before his little sister was the upper half of Jihl
Nabaat's body cut clean in half at the waist, a few feet away from it was the lower half of the woman's body, her face had a pained look upon it and a quick survey of the room revealed
that both Odin was no where to be seen but Ifrit's corpse was laying in the corner not to far away from Lightning. Where the strawberry blond stood was covered in blood a mix of all the
participants life blood. Cloud still stood staring with a look of shock written on his face as a cold smirk came across Lightning's lips.