Chapter Eleven: The Battle in Sin
Thanks to Marluxia Sasaki for his one shot psychokinesis terror. Great one shot which gave me an idea to continue this story. if your a fan of psycho mantis go read his one shot.
The Stone Circle
Psycho mantis had been asleep for a long time now. The silent and eternal sleep of death, or so he thought. It was hard to remember things now. He discovered after a moment he was standing, he was breathing again. He opened his eyes and looked around, finding that he was not alone. standing next to him was an old comrade, Vulcan Raven.
"Vulcan?" he asked surprised.
"Mantis? Why are you here, where are we?" Raven said quietly.
"I HAVE SUMMONED YOU FROM THE OTHER SPACE." a deep voice said from the darkness. A large skeletal being floated into the light before them.
"To what end?" asked Raven.
"RECENTLY A MAN WAS BROUGHT FROM YOUR WORLD TO ANOTHER. THIS MAN IS THE SUBJECT OF A CELESTIAL WAGER. HE IS ON THE PATH TO SALVATION, I WISH FOR YOU TO STOP HIM." said the great demon.
"Celestial wager? Are we too be pawns in this bet as well?" asked Mantis, unsure of how to feel about it at the moment.
"IF YOU WISH, YES. I CAN RETURN YOU TO LIFE, WITH GREATER POWER THAN YOU'VE EVER IMAGINED. I OFFER YOU THE CHANCE TO LIVE AGAIN, ALL I ASK IS THAT YOU TAKE A LIFE FOR ME." proposed the demon.
"Have we no choice?" Raven inquired.
"THERE IS ALWAYS A CHOICE. EVEN A BEING SUCH AS I HAS NO CONTROL OVER YOUR ACTIONS. I CAN ONLY SAY THAT TO DISOBEY ME SHALL BRING PAINFUL CONSEQUENCES." said the demon.
"So what do you ask of us then? Who's life do you want us to take?" asked Mantis, eager to live once more.
"HE IS A CHAMPION OF YOUR WORLD. AN ALLY OF THE ONE WHO ENDED YOUR LIVES. YOU KNOW HIM AS GREY FOX." the demon responded.
"We kill this man and we exist once more?" Raven asked with the fire of life in his eyes once more.
"YES, DO YOU AGREE?" was all the demon said.
"We do." answered Mantis and Raven in unison. A dark light engulfed them as they began to fade away.
"EXCELLENT." were the final words of the demon as the two soldiers felt the wind once more.
Cid's Airship
As they all stood crowded on the bridge of Cid's airship Fox was deep in thought. He was wondering if and how he could use the fact that Jecht was Sin, and had at least partial control over its actions. Which would explain why Sin had not killed them back in Macalania.
"How are we supposed to know what to do? Ohhh this is so hard!" complained Rikku loudly.
"Just think, what do you know about Sin?" asked Auron.
"Jecht is Sin." said Tidus simply.
"Yes. And what do we know about Jecht?" Asked Auron.
"Not much, ya know." Wakka said glumly.
"He likes the hymn of the Faith!" suddenly shouted Tidus, a moment later Fox realized what he meant.
"So?" asked Rikku, utterly confused.
"We can use it to calm him down, that's why he didn't kill us in Macalania! He only came at us when i stopped singing!" Tidus told them as the others caught on.
"So then how do we use that?" asked Lulu.
"We get the people of Spira to sing. All the people." said Yuna, the determination set into her face like stone.
"You think we can? We ain't in the best standing with Yevon right now, ya know." Wakka said.
"We must." stated Kimarhi, as if that were that.
"Okay, use this ship to get the word out. I'll go help the crew prepare our weapons for the assault on Sin." Fox instructed them as they began to use all kinds of communication devices to contact the various cities of Spira. Fox was helping to clean an exhaust valve when Yuna gave her speech to try and convince the people to sing. In all the noise he could only hear bit's and pieces of it, but he understood the general idea.
He imagined she was convincing because upon his return to the bridge he saw everyone was rejoicing. He saw images of people in the streets of Bevelle, Of Sin becoming motionless in the sky above, and the pilot telling Cid we were only minutes away.
Just then Maester Mika came on one of the comm screens.
"Summoner Yuna, i demand to know why my people are in the streets! Have you obtained the Final Summoning? Is this where you plan to fight Sin, above my city!" he barked at the furiously.
"We did not obtain the Final Summoning, we fought and defeated Lady Yunalesca in order to stop Spira's spiral of death and suffering." replied Yuna boldly. Mika was stunned for a moment before he broke down.
"Oh no! You fools! Do you realize what you've done! You've taken away Spira's hope!" he said, on the verge of tears.
"What's the use of false hope?" asked Auron darkly.
"False hope is better than hopelessness! You have doomed us to eternal sorrow! I have failed!" he screamed as he began to burst into pyreflies. There was a collective gasp of alarm at this, no one had known Maester Mika was unsent.
"A land of death, ruled by those who are no longer alive." Auron said, more to himself than to anyone else. Fox had not felt the chill that ran up his spine at that moment in a long time. That chill you get when you discover something terrible, he had thought he'd be immune to it by now.
"Sin, on the horizon!" shouted Cid as they all broke the moment to look. Sure enough there was Sin, floating motionless in the distance.
"What do we do?" asked Cid as Sin was rapidly getting closer.
"Put us right on top of it!" Fox yelled as the others followed him to the outer portion of the ship. Once there they positioned themselves at the edge until they came to a halt right above Sin. Voices could be heard in the distance whispering a tune.
"Now!" shouted Tidus as they all leaped off. It was a long fall, but something about Spira was different. Maybe it was the magic, maybe it was the gravity, but for some reason long falls were no problem at all and you could even breathe underwater. For some reason it only hit him now how truly different and beautiful this world was.
A second latter the thought was driven from his mind as they landed on a field of sinspawn. Hundreds of creatures of all kinds began to run and lunge at them. They fought with everything they had, each taking on dozens of beasts. Kimarhi was jumping and slashing his way through the crowd, using his beastly strength to plow through.
Yuna had called Bahamut into action and began an aerial bombardment, destroying large crowds of sinspawn. All the while she sent down spells to heal and protect the party. Lulu cast flare's and Ultima's everywhere, and every few seconds giant explosions would punch holes in the crowd of monsters. Usually sending blood and gore in all directions.
Auron and Tidus were standing back to back, encircled by monsters. Tidus held the fiends at bay while Auron charged his overdrive. Moments later he unleashed it and punched a huge hole through the wall of sinspawn, which the entire party began to head into in order to band together.
Fox got there first and put up a large barrier around the party. He could not hold it indefinitely but for now they had a moment to think.
"What do we do!" asked Tidus as he was nursing his wounds.
"We punch a hole." Auron said calmly.
"Already tried that, ya know." said Wakka.
"Not a hole in the troops, a hole in Sin." said Fox as he understood what Auron meant.
"Can you get us through this armor Fox?" asked Auron.
"Yes, but you'll need to keep them off me for a moment." he said quickly, the shield was going down soon.
"Done." said Auron as Fox lowered the shield and stuck his arm into Sin's armor. All around him he heard the sounds of battle but paid no attention, he had to focus now. He maneuvered his arm through the armor that is Sin's back. All he had to do was reach its innards and he could transport the others and himself there.
Sin's armor was impossibly thick however, and though his arm was in deep, the sinspawn were driving back his comrade's. The group formed a tight circle around him, only about two feet away from his body. Finally his arm passed into an open cavern and he took them all threw into what he hoped was a safe, or safer, environment.
They came into an open chamber, colossal in size. Unfortunately it was full of very large fiends. They once again picked up their weapons as they went into battle. Fox decapitated a powerful Behemoth fiend, which called forth a meteor spell before it died. The spell gravely injured Fox as well as Rikku, leaving them weakened. Yuna healed them as they continued to try and cut thier way through.
"There's a spot over there with no fiends!" shouted Tidus.
"Then let's get there!" said Auron savagely. He carved up a pair of Iron Giants and everyone followed him, all the while dodging and taking hits. Finally they broke free of the crowd and made it into the open clearing. They ran into a set of stairs that dead ended. They turned around, prepared to make their last stand, when they noticed the monster's were waiting just outside the clearing.
"Why do they not pursue?" asked Fox exhausted. He dropped to a knee before a voice from behind him brought back up.
"They know this is the path that leads to the final Aeon, a beast far stronger than they." said a giant armored fiend. It stood twenty feet tall, with armor from head to toe. It reminded Fox of a roman gladiator, only much more terrifying. It loomed over them as it descended the stairs.
"I am Ozma, the guardian of the Final Aeon and Yu Yevon. I cannot let you pass." said the huge beast.
"Who is Yu Yevon? Is he the one who controls Sin? Is he the reason it keeps coming back?" asked Yuna with rage in her voice.
"Yu Yevon is everything. Sin is his Armor, he wears it when he walks the Earth. Every so often his armor is broken by the Final Aeon, which is them consumed and turned into his next armor. Yu Yevon is the one who holds the dreamers, the one who keeps our city alive." it said as it drew it's weapon, a massive sword.
"What city?" asked Rikku.
"Who cares! This guy's in our way so i say we make him move!" said Tidus as he rushed into battle. We all followed suit and joined the fray. The guardian was no pushover, it's sword put Auron and Tidus down hard with his first swing. Fox threw a few dark balls into it's armor, which began to melt away in black patches. Lulu placed an Ulitma spell perfectly and managed to hit a spot with no armor. Large chunks of metal flew in all directions and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
"RAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!" cried the beast as it stood up. With a quick punch it sent Fox flying back. He flew to the very edge of the clearing and was only just able to avoid getting snatched by the crowd of monsters. He dashed back over and saw the beast was not so tough after all, Auron and been able to land a devastating stab into it's back while Tidus and Kimarhi took out it's legs. Fox sent his clawed right hand lashing out and tore the beast's throat out to bring it down. It crashed onto the floor with force as the creature was no more.
Fox stood with the others as they all caught thier breath, exhausted fromthe many battles they had just fought. It was silent for a moment before Rikku broke the silence.
"Yahoo! Now lets go whoop this baddie and go home!" she said with an upbeat tone only she could muster at this moment. Everyone Laughed as the tension melted away.
"What? I'm being serious! Don't make fun of me!" she said with an exasperated sigh.
"It was well said." spoke Auron as he started to walk past Fox. All at once he became rigid and stiff. Fox was immediately on guard, it was an unnatural stillness.
"Auron?" Tidus said, wondering what was wrong. Then Auron made his move, he drew his sword and swung at Fox. Even with his quick reflexes Fox was only just able to evade the attack. He dodged with a back flip and drew his own sword.
"Auron! Why do you attack me!" Fox asked as the old guardian rushed him in earnest, going for the kill. Fox was much more agile, however, and was able to deliver a kick which sent Auron sprawling backwards.
"I, I'm sorry Fox. I can't...stop myself!" he cried as he began another assault. Fox used lucavi to ensnare Auron and immobilize him.
"Fox! Don't hurt him!" said Yuna with worry in her voice.
"Not unless I have to Yuna." Fox reassured her as he walked closer to Auron. There was a strange aura around him, as if he were being manipulated. Fox thought vaguely about the past and a strong sense of dread came over him. He could feel the same power he had in Auron, lucavi. No, it was similar but not the same. Another demon?
"Everyone, get ready to fight!" Fox warned them as he began to scan the area for the aura, finding not one but the two bodies it was emanating from. Each was slightly different, but both had massive power like his own.
"They're above us!" shouted Fox as everyone took a defensive stance in unison.
"Found us have you? Very well then, a direct assault would be in order then." said the man with the small frame. he looked frail at first glance but Fox knew he was not. His skin was covered with black tendrils which flailed about. Dark bones protuded from his body in the most frightening way.
Standing next to him was a much larger man, a huge man. He was beastly in form with muscles that looked like they were made out of marble. The large one leaped from the ledge and began to cross the gap between himself and Fox much faster than humanly possible.
"Who are you!" Fox demanded to know as yet another battle broke out. The party scattered as an offensive was mounted. Spells and swords began to rain down on the unknown attackers, the small one had swooped down and begun to return fire with dark projectiles.
"Don't remember us? That is to be expected. We did not know you when you were flesh as Snake did." the large one said as he came to a stop in front of Fox. Swords and spells bounced off him like paper as he stood to face Fox.
"Snake? has the stone circle summoned you as well?" Fox asked as he readied his sword, preparing for the attack that was sure to come.
"Stone circle?" replied the flier with a laugh. "No, the great skeleton brought us here. To destroy you Fox."
"Ajora! Then you too have the power of his demons." Fox realized, just now grasping the threat they possessed.
"Demons? is that what gives us this power? It's irrelevent however, he returned us to life. And for that we owe him this small favor." the flyer said as he began to attack at last. Fox evaded the dark powers as he began to counterattack. The big one still stood in place, a contemplative look on his face.
Fox needed to take to the air in order to be on equal footing with his enemy. The two fought in the large cavern, tearing through the small space with furious speed. The flier sent various projectiles his way, but Fox could tell he was still inexperienced with his new found powers. He conjured a shield and sent a powerful wave the fliers way.
the flier was sent reeling back, and it took a moment for him to recover from the blow. A moment was all Fox needed, and in an instant he had sunk his sword into the chest of his mysterious foe. The small man shrieked in pain before blasting Fox into the wall of the cavern with such force that Fox fell to the ground. The flier's chest began to heal as he was slammed with an Ultima spell and sent to the ground.
"I am host to a demon you say? Why do I not feel his presence?" asked the large man as he remained motionless, deep in thought.
"Because you have not questioned the power he gives you. If you simply give into it he will slowly begin to control you!" responded Fox as he got back to his feet. He had hope the huge man wanted to maintain control over himself, as he had a feeling he was the more dangerous one.
"You are host as well, and yet you control it? You bend it to your will?" Inquired the monstrous man.
"Yes, but you have to take back control. You must find the beat inside your mind and fight against it!" shouted Fox as he sprinted towards the flier. Though his foe had been injured and his teammates had attempted to kill him, he had regained his composure and was reeking havoc on them.
Fox threw himself at the man and sent him crashing into the wall with a powerful kick. The flier recovered quickly however, and his arm formed into a large dark hammer. He swung on Fox much faster than Fox expected and with crushing Force Fox was again sent to the ground in pain.
At that moment the bigger of the two began to scream. He clutched his head and fell to his massive knees. Fox assumed he had found his own demon and begun to fight against it.
"Raven! It's time to fight you damn shaman! Stop whatever your doing and help me this instant!" cried the flier as he sent a dark ball into Auron's chest, putting him down hard.
"Mantis, I will not be controlled by a demon! I am the master of myself, and I will not allow this fiend to hold sway over me!" he shouted as he slowly rose to his feet, slowly regaining mastery over himself.
"Mantis, Raven! Your from Foxhound, I remember you! Snake killed you on his way to metal gear!" Fox said as he rose to his feet once more. He stood for a moment and spoke to Raven. "Keep fighting it Raven! You can be yourself again if you can only overpower that monster in your mind!"
"Mantis, this demon is not so strong! You can best your as well, you are the master of your own mind my friend!" Raven said as he turned towards Mantis with slow deliberation.
"What the hell's going on, ya? Is the big one on our side!" asked Wakka confused as Mantis swooped over him.
"I don't want to fight it! I for one am thankful to whatever returned me to life with such awesome power! I will kill Fox in it's name to show my thanks! Or simply because I can,it doesn't matter anymore! Ahhahah!" shouted Mantis with evil glee as one of his tendrils pierced Kimarhi's shoulder. The Ronso let out a cry of pain as he severed it with a quick slash of his mighty spear.
Fox had had enough of these games, it was clear Mantis was beyond salvation and he grew tired of this battle. Mantis was distracted with evil glee as he overpowered the others, Fox knew now was the time to strike the killing blow. He focused lucavi into his legs and ran with superhuman speed towards his target. He leapt into the air and brought his sword from left to right in a clean and powerful swing. His aim had been perfect and in a moment Manits's head had been severed and the psychic was no more once again. His body released an unearthly scream as the demon left his dead body.
Fox turned to Raven as the others followed suit, moving towards the giant with cautious optimism. The giant was still stoic, his eyes were closed and a look of supreme concentration was on his face. Fox wasn't sure if he was overpowering the demon inside or not, but he was hopeful.
"What do we do?" asked Rikku with a trembling voice. The others stood still, waiting for his answer. They were all ready to fight against Raven if necessary, Fox hoped it wasn't.
"We wait and see who wins the battle of wills. Raven or his demon, if it's the demon...be prepared.
Yeah. And once again sorry for the LONG wait. I know I'm an asshole, blah blah blah. I was just unsure of how exactly to continue until I read Marluxia Sasaki's story and I got the idea to bring in some more mgs character's. I may bring in another but if I do it'll only be one more. Don't want to make the story too crowded with mgs characters, it's meant to focus more on Spira after all.
Wakka: Fox has knows some crazy people, ya!
Lulu: Nobodies as crazy as you Wakka, our baby will need therapy for years.
Auron: Therapy by sword is the only kind you need.
Yuna: Auron!
Tidus: Oh c'mon Yuna, you know he didn't mean it like that!
Rikku: When are me and Fox gonna get some more alone time?
Kimarhi: Kimarhi wants to be alone right now.
Cid: Is anybody even still reading this?
Seymour: Maybe Ajora could bring me back? I want awesome demon powers...
Big Boss: Maybe the author will get off his butt and write another chapter without waiting a year!
Solid Snake: Shutup dad, you were never there for me!
Campbell: Snake, I order you to stop crying right now, we got a mission to complete here!
Otacon: You guys got emotional problems...
Grey Fox: Just kill me now author, I can't take this anymore.