Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Square Enix, just my own.
Note: Wow, now that we're all cleared up with Will's story, it's on to the showdown! So, several of the chapters would be the match-up battles between the chosen participants. We even get to know the past of these Variants! Ready? Let's go!
Chapter 20
The Lion, the Bazooka, and the Hammers
Just before Malfonse reached towards the two girls, Leila jumped up into the air while Delna jumped back with her bazooka aimed at him. In a slight second her bazooka suddenly turned red and a surge of heat started to seep out of the barrel of the bazooka.
"Infernal Flames!" Delna yelled out. A huge splurge of flames blew out of the bazooka, rapidly reaching towards Malfonse. As if expecting this attack, he swung his right hammer in a horizontal slash, sending the flames to the side and making the trees catch on fire all around them.
"Well well, Delna. You're helping out those Hiends fight this battle? Aren't you, as a Hunter, supposed to 'kill' them? I don't like knowing someone on my side is fighting against me." Malfonse tried to pressure her into hesitating. But she wasn't getting any of it. Delna was NOT going to fall for Malfonse's plan.
"Well, your aura looks a bit darker than theirs, so I'm going to have to side with them for a while. It's just that, a temporary truce." Delna looked around the pond to see the trees in blazes. A plan started to sprout within her mind, and she smirked with its successes it could make with this battle.
Malfonse scanned the area behind Delna. He thought he saw a shadowy blur move about in the trees. Could it be that Hiend girl? No, he can't be distracted just yet.
"This pond looks a bit wet. I might as well use it to my advantage," Delna said. With that, she jumped into the air and aimed her bazooka below her. "Icicle Shard!" A huge chunk of an icicle slammed into the waters, freezing the entire pond and anything in it.
The seaweed and sea beds in the water froze, while the fish froze into look-alike fossils. Malfonse then knew what she was up to. She wanted to freeze the pond with him. Before he could react, both his legs were frozen into the waters, making him unable to move. Shit…
He heard a soft plop behind him and heard the cocking of a gun….or a really big bazooka.
Delna held her bazooka aimed at his back while facing the blazing trees. "You know, being a Hunter and all isn't ALL about eliminating Hiends, ya know? We're also supposed to protect the people," her bazooka suddenly sparked up with a small amount of energy, "and make sure they live a good, peaceful life. Hiends are people also, you know? They're just…demented in some way."
Smiling, Malfonse muttered, "Do you want me to tell you a tidbit of Maester Seymour's grand plan?"
Her bazooka being lowered a bit told Malfonse everything. "Hmph, you Hunters won't be needed for long. Maester Seymour has devised a plan to obliterate ALL the Hiends into extinction." He turned his head a bit to see the bazooka aimed at him. "Interesting, isn't it?"
Delna had an uneasy feeling about the plan. Obliterate the Hiends into extinction? Was that possible? Before she could think how the Maester can do such a thing, she felt a VERY painful crunching of her right ribcage being broken.
BOOM! She then got flung right into a dense tree, slumping onto its bark. Blood started to spew out of her broken ribs, and her bazooka lay at her feet.
She saw Malfonse walking up towards her with his dual hammers slung onto his shoulder with cold eyes burning her entire being.
"You've been lagging a bit, so I took the time to teach you a lesson. Never to distract yourself in a battle. And it looks like you've failed." He raised his right hammer high up into the air and then swung it downwards to be blocked by…Leila.
Her huge claws blocked the hammer's head and she pushed him away 10 feet. The ice broke a path from Malfonse's legs.
Looking at Delna's limp body, Leila asked, "You alright? Malfonse swung that hammer of his at you…."
Her eyes starting to close and her heavy, rugged breathing, Delna looked up at Leila's canine-like face. "I'm…alright. Fight him…without me. I'll be resting….for a while." She then closed her eyes and sighed softly.
Leila spotted blood started to spill into the pond, giving it a red tinge. She then faced Malfonse, who was starting to advance towards her.
"Well then, I guess it's just me and you, Malfonse. I wanna see you REALLY fight…"
Hoisting his hammers onto his shoulders, Malfonse replied, "As long as you have the same courtesy of fighting me straight on."
Giving off a small smile, Leila said, "Sorry, but I'd rather fight somewhere with some cover...for now." She then ran off into the blazing woods.
"Well, if she wants a wild goose chase, then she'll get it." Malfonse then followed her. The troubling part about following her was that the blazing trees created an obstacle to slow him down. Because of Leila's Hiend form, her agility has been increased, giving her the flexibility and awareness to dodge the trees.
And the second troubling part was that she threw some burning branches or some rocks to impede his advance. This was not going well...unless...
Malfonse raised his dual hammers and slammed them into the ground, creating a 360 degree shockwave that wiped off all the flames from the trees around him. The ground also had spider-web like cracks etched into the ground. In a split second Malfonse swung his left hammer behind him diagonally, blocking Leila's jump strike.
She then jumped off the hammer and landed onto the now cracked ground. "Dang, you're fast for a big guy."
"Hm, I'll take that as a compliment," Malfonse replied, turning around to face her.
"You know, I've been wondering, but WHY did you join the Variants?" Leila asked.
Malfonse arched an eyebrow and said, "You would ask me this question right now, when we're in a battle to the death?"
"Um, yeah." What, did he have a problem with that?
Exposing a small smile, he said, "Well, I have never been asked this question before. Well, that's because usually the questioner get''s killed before they get the chance. But I never joined the Variants, if that's what you wanted to hear."
Leila's eyes widened in shock. He never joined the Variants? Then why was he being involved with them?
His face showed a knowing look, and said, "Well, I was 'created' to work with the Variants. Or as you people would call this as cloning."
"C-cloning?" Leila stuttered the words. She's never heard of the word cloning for a LONG while. Cloning technology has been banned for over many years. Can it be true that Maester Seymour is trying to work on this?
She held her forearm up and blocked both of Malfonse's hammers. "Keh, I was about to drop my guard..."
"I was hoping you would. But what I'm telling you is the truth. The Variants are actually a group of cloned people, based off of the real bodies of our originals. Some partial bits of our original's consciousness is kept within us." He then dug his hammer even harder, pushing Leila onto her knees.
Baring her fangs, Leila yelled out, "Do you like being a clone?! Do you like being a VARIANT? Killing innocent people and stealing goods from places?"
Malfonse face darkened, the blazing forest circling them just casting a light glow on his face. "It's not that I take pleasure in killing. It's just that when an order is given, especially from Maester Seymour, then it must be done. No matter who it is."
Gripping both of his hammers, Leila roared and tossed Malfonse and his hammers to the side, several feet away. Malfonse landed on his feet and slammed his hammers into the ground to keep him from sliding too far. A green army cap was laying on the ground and it was soon swept away into the air and out into the afternoon sky.
Leila glared at Malfonse, his shaved head suddenly revealed to her. "It's time to end this battle Malfonse. I hope you have a prayer ready to give to your 'loving' Yevon."
"Heh, I hope you the same thing." He then slammed his hammers down into the ground, sending out a line of stalagmites towards Leila. In a blink of an eye, she got right in front of him and grabbed Malfonse's throat, making him gag and send out spittle onto her face. Stopping herself from gagging, she then placed her other hand onto his mouth, and she opened her mouth wide.
Hammers dropped to the ground, and Leila then felt guilty. She saw Malfonse's eyes quiver in....fear? Closing her eyes, trying to keep the tears from falling, she then thinks in her head, 'I'm sorry Malfonse. Please have a good afterlife'.
A pure, red glow of flames started to emit from her throat. At this time, Malfonse's arms were at his side, and his eyes were then closed.
'Heh, well then, this is it. I could either swing my leg out and get a chance to gunk her in the face....or take it all in. That I've...no, Maester Seymour has taken millions of lives just to exact his operations of power. I....can't believe I'm doing this but....I give up. Maester Seymour, everybody, I'm sorry. I have failed you all.'
Suddenly, a huge beam of red flames erupted from Leila's mouth and it converged Malfonse's entire face. His screams and cries for help were in vain. After the beam dissipated, his body spazzed and then he fell forward, never getting up again.
Leila opened her eyes, and her tears started to spill out. Transforming back to her human body, she gave a prayer of protection and safety over Malfonse's body and walked back to the lake. The ice that was made from Delna melted away, giving out a lake that would cover Leila's entire waist. Delna laid just across from the lake.
Wading through the lake was no easy task. Leila probably snagged her foot in at least 5 or 6 seaweeds and several little fishes nipped at her arm, making Leila feel a little bit better from the fight. When she got to her, Leila knelt down to see Delna's face paled over. The blood was still fresh, but her body was a bit cold.
Taking Delna's body close to hers, Leila looked up to the sky. "Everyone......sniff, I hope you'll all be safe. And I mean ALL of you!" Leila buried her face to Delna's chest and started to sob.
In the distance, standing at the tip of a burned tree, stood a white, long coated figure. The coat resembed that of the Orginization XIII's coats. His cowl covered his entire head and face, except his grim mouth.
In a heavy-toned voice, the figure said, "Damn...I was too late! I'll have to quickly head over to the next battle site. Maybe I can stop them from killing each other." And with that, the figure then convulsed into black mist.
15 MINUTES BEFORE LEILA DEFEATED MALFONSE
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I sat on a swivel chair looking at Movaak and Sophia strapping on their parachute bags. I changed my white and black attire to a red t-shirt and black shorts with my obvious black nike shoes. My hair was short again from Anuy giving me a haircut. I never even knew Anuy was that good.
"Good luck with this battle both of you. Heh, it looks like you two are on a honeymoon."
Movaak came towards me quickly and smacked me in the head.
"Ow! What the hell!? What did I do?" I yelled at him so loud Sophia then came towards us.
"It's for saying something so trivial to the matter at hand! This battle is a life or death situation to us, and to the whole world."
Gah, he was right. But he didn't need to smack me....geez, he could have at least said 'don't say that' or 'be careful with what you say' but nooooooo, he just goes on and smacks me. Sometimes I wondered why destiny made me meet him.
"Ready to go?" yelled out Derek. Movaak and Sophia gave the thumbs up. With a nod, Derek pushed a button, which opened the windows, and air started to gush in and out.
Turning around to face me and the gang, Movaak said, "Be safe everyone, and don't get killed."
Sophia then added, "Oh, and Zakuo, don't get too crazy in the fight, alright? You too, Derek." And with that they both jumped off.
"Heeey, wait, I'm not that good in fight," mumbled Derek.
"Well, that's a shame," Tsuki said. Derek had to be held back by Zakuo from punching Tsuki in the face. I saw a hint of a smile on Tsuki's lips.
I hope they'll both be okay.
Both Movaak and Sophia free-falled down towards the stadium bleachers, their arms and legs spread out. The distance to the bleachers were closing in on them with momentous speed.
Sophia yelled out to be heard above the wind's roaring. "Okay, we're getting nearer, I'm going on your back, alright?!"
Without saying anything, Movaak grabbed Sophia's hands and lead it to hold onto his shoulders. He then bent his knees a bit and reverted his left arm into his black, volcanic arm. With Sophia on his back, he reeled his arm back and let our a roar, punching the ground on impact. In succession, a cloud of dust and debris filled up the air around them.
Then the weirdest thing happened. The volcanic stump on Movaak's left shoulder suddenly erupted hot lava, propelling both him and Sophia to the inner sections of the stadium, where the 4 water pumps for the Blitz sphere was located. Movaak dug his feet and hands into the ground to slow down their slide. Sophia jumped off of Movaak and dusted off some dirt from her clothes.
"Well, that was a crazy flight downwards. We should try that again sometime."
Movaak looked at Sophia as if she was crazy, but then remembered there was something that had to be done. "Maybe we can, if we defeat HIM." He pointed towards a figure with orange long hair and a prosthetic arm. Sophia saw the figure and her face then hardened.
Misake stood there, his orangish hair whipping from the oncoming wind. "Greetings, love, and enemy." He extended his prosthetic arm and said, "Welcome to the Blitzball Stadium. A place of excitement and..."
"Cut the theatrics, Misake. You know why Sophia and I are here for."
Sophia looked at Movaak, surprised by his bluntness, but Misake shrugged it off. "Well, I never knew you had such rudeness in you, man with the spiky, red hair. To help you relax, would you like some...refreshments?"
Movaak saw a quick glint of red from Misake's eyes, and knew something was up. Or right next to them. The 4 pumps for the sphere suddenly spilled out a huge amount of water onto the inner sections of the stadium, covering the entire ground with sogging water. It went up to their ankles, so it was quite shallow. 'Easy to maneuver in', Sophia thought.
Suddenly, 5 fiends submerged out of the water, head-first. All of them were shaped just like the Yevon soldiers. The only differences were that they were made out of pure H2O and a little bit of mana.
Clapping, Misake yelled out in happiness, "Now then! Let's get the magic show started! Now, I wanna ask you both something. Is this an illusion.....or not?"
Movaak was about to say something, but saw someone pass by him. No....it's Sophia!
Her yoyos drawn, she then swung them out in a wide arc, clearing out all the water soldiers...until 5 more replaced them. "Tch, these things are getting annoying, and I only cleared off 5 of them!"
Misake then slammed his prosthetic palm right at Sophia's face, sending her straight towards Movaak. Movaak raised his fiend's arm and caught Sophia from smashing into him.
"You need to be careful, ya know?"
She glared at him with a defeated look on her face. "You think you know everything."
Smirking, Movaak replied, "I probably do. Now you fend off against those fiends, I'll take on Misake. We'll try to assist each other when we can, alright?"
Sophia nodded and they both dashed towards their respective directions.
"Misake, you're goin down!" yelled Movaak.
Misake grabbed his mace from his waist and held it on his human arm. "Just try, bitch."
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A/N: IT'S FINALLY HERE! So many things just happened, from Leila defeating Malfonse by herself, from Movaak and Sophia starting the fight against Misake. But the question was, why the heck did some dude in a white Orginization XIII coat appear out of nowhere? And what's with the cloning business? Please R&R and hope you guys enjoyed! :D
Oh, and sorry for the short fight. I'll make the next fight more exciting! :D