Chapter 16: Rasengan to the Rescue!

Marlene was sitting by herself in her room, waiting anxiously for news on her father. Elmyra and the other members of AVALANCHE were downstairs in the living room, also waiting.

It had been almost two days since she and Elmyra had been taken from their rooms at Shinra Headquarters, and almost a full day since her father had left again. Barret had promised her that he would be coming home soon, and she believed him. But Marlene was a bright young girl; she knew when something wasn't right. She could see the worry in her father's eyes, and ever since he left she had maintained a silent vigil in her room, waiting for him to come back for her.

"Marlene?" a female voice called and she turned around to see Jessie poking her head through the door. The female member of AVALANCHE gave Marlene a smile that barely hid the fear she had.

"Hey Jessie," she replied. She was about to ask what was wrong, but then the shutters on the window rattled, catching the attention of both. Jessie hesitated a bit before she crossed over to the window. "I'll just tighten these shutters. There's a bit of a storm going on outside," she said. But before she could do just that, the shutters were wrenched open, and Jessie froze. Marlene, curious as to what she was staring at, jumped off the chair and walked over to Jessie, peeking out of the window.

She was met by a strong wind that was blowing fiercely throughout Kalm. The wind was so strong it almost wrenched the shutters from her hands, and sent her hair whipping about her face.

Wispy tendrils of dark red energy had fallen over the Kalm, giving the rural village a ghastly aura. The air was warm even though it was dark outside, and there was a strange smell being carried on the wind. Marlene turned her eyes westward and looked over at Midgar, her former home.

Meteor was there. It had pierced through the atmosphere and was now descending on the Planet, with Midgar directly at the point of impact. The flames that had covered its body were gone and Marlene saw in perfect detail the craters that covered its surface. The meteor dwarfed the great city, almost twice its size. When Meteor hit Midgar would be crushed, until no trace of it remained. The wispy tendrils that flowed through Kalm were coming from Meteor, converging around Midgar.

Forked blue bolts of lightning flashed and rent the air. Fierce whirlwinds rose up from inside Midgar's perimeter and joined with Meteor, connecting the two. As Meteor gave them strength the whirlwinds grew thicker and stronger, and began to ravage the upper plates of the city. Anything that came in their path was destroyed, and there was nothing that was not in their path. There were eight tornados in all, one in each of Midgar's eight sectors, including the ruins of Sector 7.

Deadly plates of sharp metal went flying into the air as the tornados tore them from the ground, filling the air with lethal shrapnel. The whirlwinds were drawn inwards towards Shinra Headquarters and began to tear up the ground outside. The watchtowers and scaffolding supporting the cannon were destroyed as the tornados came past. One bolt of blue lightning rose up from the ground at the feet of one of the whirlwinds and struck the main building. It tore mercilessly through the building. When it reached the top the upper beams gave way. The top floors fell away and crashed into the ground below.

The whirlwinds moved back out again. Homes were ripped apart, reduced to rubble. One of the mako reactors exploded into flames, though the mako supply had been shut off. The whirlwinds continued their assault on the city. Soon there would be nothing left that resembled Midgar. The whirlwinds would destroy everything, and then Meteor would finish the job by ploughing the city into the ground.

All of this Marlene and Jessie watched from the bedroom window, their eyes wide in wonder and fear respectively. At that point a flash of light redirected their attention to the source.

Holy appeared and raced forwards, heading towards Midgar and Meteor. The blessed light struck and ripped through the raging whirlwinds, severing their connection to the Planet. On contact Holy flashed brightly, and the two females had to shield their eyes from the pure light.

Holy spread out over Midgar and the surrounding land, covering it in a protective shield. Meteor touched Holy's surface. Both powers shimmered brightly as they exerted their will against one another, fighting to see who would emerge the strongest. Meteor pushed against Holy and, slowly, began to break through. It pierced through Holy's sparkling shield and came out the other side, continuing its descent upon Midgar. The dark red aura returned with devastating fury, bathing the city and the underside of Holy's shield in a sea of red. Red clouds swept through the city, smothering it in deadly smoke.

Naruto and his friends watched from the Highwind as Holy struck. The airship was flying above Meteor and Holy, keeping a safe distance. The companions clustered together around the window, peering out. Meteor's intimidating glow spread rapidly across the ground, and they could see the blue lightning start to flash once more.

When Barret saw Meteor begin to break through Holy's defences, he blinked and turned to his friends. "Wait a damn minute!" he said gruffly. "What about Midgar?" The resistance leader slammed his fist into the rail. "We can't let that happen!"

"We had everyone take refuge in the slums," said Cait, "but the way things are now…" He looked out at the devastated city, barely visible through Holy's light. Cait lowered his head, his ears drooped, and he rubbed his eyes. The plates would provide little protection for those sheltering underneath.

Nanaki padded up to stand beside Naruto. "It's too late for Holy," he said. Through the rails he watched as Meteor continued to push itself deeper into Holy's shield. Holy responded by trying to draw its energy around Meteor, gathering its strength at the point of impact. Its efforts were in vain, for Meteor continued to push through. "Meteor is approaching the Planet. Holy is having the opposite effect."

Holy rose up around Meteor's lower half, forming a protective cocoon. Waves of energy spilled down its surface as it was repelled by Meteor. From below the blue lightning flashed and struck Holy, but Holy persevered and continued to fight against its opposite, trying desperately to keep Meteor from reaching the Planet.

"Forget Midgar," said Nanaki, "we've gotta worry about the Planet now."

"This is amazing… and terrifying. I feel like I'm back fighting with Sasuke at the Valley of the End," Naruto whispered to himself as he watched the two titanic magic forces wrestling with each other. He heard a faint voice and he turned to see Aeris, hands clutched together, praying. What about, he couldn't tell.

"Naruto…"

'Huh? You say something Kyuu-chan?' Naruto asked in his mind.

"That wasn't me," she replied.

'…the spirit of the Planet?' he asked.

"Yes. I need your help."

'What with?' he asked.

"I need a focus point. I'm sending the Lifestream to help Holy, but I need a focus point."

'What do I need to do?'

"Just get to the Point of Impact. I'll take care of the rest."

'But what do I do when I get there?' Naruto asked, but he was only met with silence. 'Kyuu-chan, you get all that?'

"Sure did. We need to get there quickly, but I doubt the Highwind can get us there without being torn apart," she replied.

'No problems. I've got an idea,' he replied before he walked over to Cloud and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I need your help. Follow me," Naruto said before he began to run toward the outside deck. Cloud paused before followed.

The deck was oddly shielded, so even though the Highwind was hurtling at high speeds, there was only a slight breeze that ruffled Naruto and Cloud's hair.

"So what's up?" Cloud repeated.

"I need to get to Ground Zero right now," Naruto explained.

"Are you crazy?!" Cloud exclaimed.

"Probably, but I still gotta do it," Naruto replied. "I need you to give me a boost in Meteor's direction."

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

"No… not really. But I'm still going," Naruto said.

Cloud sighed before removing his Buster Sword and turned it so the flat of the blade was facing horizontally. He held it out. "Ready?" he asked.

Naruto nodded before he jumped into the air and touched down on Cloud's sword. He bent his knees and glued his feet to the blade with chakra as Cloud swung in a full circle. When Naruto faced the direction of Meteor, he went to Level 3 and jumped off the Buster Sword. He took off like a golden comet, blazing high into the air.

Back inside everyone was still in deep thought at the situation. They were broken from their thoughts as Vincent noticed a golden streak of light race past, heading toward Meteor.

"What was that?" Aeris asked in surprise.

"It was Naruto," Cloud said as he walked back onto the bridge.

"WHAT?!" mostly everyone yelled in alarm before they looked back to see the golden comet arc and dip back towards the ground, heading for the top of the Shinra building.

Naruto braced himself as he skimmed past the edge of Meteor and landed on the top of the Shinra building, creating a very large crater as he did so, but the energy surrounding him protected him from any damage.

'Ok, I'm here!' Naruto called out in his mind, hoping the goddess heard him. The wind was so fierce here that he needed to amass a large amount of chakra into his feet and legs to stop from being ripped off the top. There was so much dark red energy and smoke that he couldn't figure which direction he was facing. It was like he was standing on a very small island in the middle of a maroon abyss, where nothing existed beyond the island.

'This is taking creepy to a new level,' Naruto thought as he strengthened his chakra hold as a heavy blast of wind almost uprooted him from the top of the building. 'I would imagine this is what Hell would look like. Or something similar.'

"You wouldn't be wrong there," Kyuubi replied.

"What's he doin' down there for?" Barret asked in bewilderment.

"He didn't say. Just that he needed to get there," Cloud replied.

"Well he wouldn't do something that batshit crazy without a plan," Cid said.

"We just need to trust that he knows what he's doing," Nanaki stated.

Silence fell over the companions.

"You think he plans to blow Meteor away with a fully charged Ultima?" Yuffie asked. "Cause that'd be awesome to watch! Who needs Holy when you've got the most kick ass spell in existence!"

"I don't think it would work," Aeris replied.

"Aww man!" the kunoichi whined.

"Wait! What's that?" Tifa asked as she pointed to what she had spotted. The companions turned and looked out of the window. Outside of Midgar, some distance away from the impact zone, something was beginning to emerge out of the ground. The dry, cracked soil shifted, and a long, slender green wisp of energy pushed its way up out of the ground. The wisp wavered; the numerous strands of pale green energy that made up its body shimmered. Then the wisp began to make its way southwards, heading towards Midgar.

Another wispy tendril pushed its way out of the earth close to the first, and also began to head south. A third tendril followed it and then another… Dozens of them were emerging all at once from the very dark depths of the Planet. They moved together, moving in gentle waves.

The companions all leaned against the rails, watching as dozens more wisps of energy rose out of the Planet's surface. The dark and withered land was quickly covered in lines of pale green light that wove and wound around each other to form even larger tendrils of pulsing energy. More tendrils began to rise to the west of Midgar and to the east, and then finally from the south. They just kept on appearing, more and more of them, seemingly endless.

"What the hell IS that…?" asked Barret. He looked at Cloud.

Cloud did not take his eyes away from the window, his gaze fixed on the tendrils as they wound their way towards the airship. "…Lifestream," he said simply.

Barret stared at him, and then slowly turned back to the window. So this was the Lifestream… Barret was not a sentimental man or a philosophical one, but it touched him in a very deep place in his heart to think that the Planet would resort to this: to use its own life energy in the fight against Meteor. He watched the tendrils as they moved onwards towards Midgar.

In Kalm, the villagers opened their windows and watched as a pale green glow appeared over the horizon. It seemed that even the living were drawn to this, compelled to watch by a spiritual feeling only the very old understood. Marlene and Jessie stared, their eyes wide.

"It's coming," Marlene said, as the green glow grew brighter.

"Jessie!" a voice called and Biggs barged into the room. "Jessie! Are you seeing this?" he shouted in excitement. He then was silenced as he walked forward to join Jessie and Marlene at the window.

As the three watched more tendrils rose up out of the ground between Kalm and Midgar. They rose up tall, intertwining, heading eastward toward the city. A glow then fell over them and the three looked up to see even more tendrils passing by overhead. They joined with the rest of the swarm.

"Hurry up! What's taking so long?!" Naruto yelled in frustration as the forceful winds picked up in speed and strength. He turned around, trying to see something other than dark red; some sort of sign that help was coming.

And then he saw it; a single strand of green energy forcing its way through the dense red smoke and reaching out to Naruto. He reached out his hand and the energy curled around his hand before wrapping up into a small ball, centred on his palm.

"I see," Naruto nodded before he raised his hand above him and formed a normal Rasengan. The strand of Lifestream energy merged with the Rasengan and pulsed there. Naruto looked around to see more and more strands of Lifestream shining through the smoke and joining the Rasengan, making it bigger. This started to put a strain on Naruto's focus. And the energy continued to flow into the attack, quickly changing the colour of the Rasengan from a shimmering blue, to a shining green.

Naruto gripped his right wrist with his left hand, putting extra focus into stabilizing this Lifestream Rasengan as more energy was added and the sphere grew and grew in size. It was now as big as him, but it continued to grow, much more quickly as a literal torrent of energy was now merging into the sphere.

Naruto gritted his teeth and outputted more of his Kikangan energy to stabilize the roaring green giant sphere of energy above him, which was now as big as a house. 'I will not be done in by this!' he growled mentally. "I will protect this planet and my friends!"

Then a surge of energy rushed through him and golden light erupted around him, flaring up for a second before dying down. His hair had lengthened again, now reaching down to his calf muscles. Massive amounts of blue bio-lightning discharged from his form as the Rasengan continued to grow. It was now as big as the Hokage building back at Konoha. Naruto couldn't ponder on what this surge of power meant for his concentration was all taken up on keeping this Rasengan stable.

The sphere continued to grow until the top touched Meteor. Naruto instantly buckled as the pressure doubled several times over. It felt like he was under several tons of weight. "…Not yet!" he grunted before standing straight once again. "Not out yet!"

Meteor had finally come to a complete stop as the Lifestream Rasengan pushed against the Ultimate Destructive Magic spell, the sphere now as big as the Shinra building. The two were at a proper stalemate as while the Rasengan was very powerful, it was still equal to the power of Meteor.

"COME OOOONNNN!" Naruto roared as he fed his new found power into the sphere. "JUST A LITTLE… BIT… MORE!" But he had no more power to give. Not only was he using his chakra and power of the Kikangan, but he was using the full power of his fox tail that he had. He had nothing more to give.

Back on the Highwind, everyone stood in awe at the sight of this small sphere of green energy pushed Meteor to a standstill. Small in that it was still about twenty times smaller than Meteor itself.

"Is that… Is Naruto doing that?" Aeris asked in wonder.

"I believe it is," Vincent agreed.

"Amazing…" Cloud murmured.

"Holy shit!" Barret exclaimed.

"You can do it!" Tifa yelled.

'I don't know if I can go on…' Naruto whispered in his mind. 'I've got nothing left to give.'

There was silence.

'Kyuu-chan?' he asked before a massive amount of pain erupted from his whole body. It was such a shock, that he almost lost control of the Rasengan.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH !" Naruto cried out in pain as he heard a loud ripping sound, before suddenly, he was flooded with power. He immediately focused the power into the Rasengan, which tripled a few times over in size, pushing Meteor back from the sudden increase in power and size. Now the Rasengan was about half the size of Meteor itself, and was continuing to grow as more Lifestream energy poured into the absolutely titanic Rasengan.

Naruto roared as he pushed more and more of this newfound energy into the Rasengan. At the top, where the Rasengan had just been scratching the metallic surface, the green sphere now began to dig into Meteor, ripping out chunks and pulverising them into oblivion. The Rasengan continued to get bigger until it reached a peak size of two thirds as big as Meteor. And standing underneath, holding up the sphere of energy, was Naruto.

Then Naruto released his focus on the top side of the Rasengan, and everything turned to white.

The Highwind was rocked by an airborne blast wave as white light burst from the top of the shining green sphere. Everyone squinted their eyes and saw a rocket like jet of energy blasting and burning through Meteor. A giant flare of bright green energy erupted from the opposite end of Meteor and the whole thing began to rise into the sky as the rocket energy propelled Meteor away from Midgar. It continued to rise further and further before the whole thing was engulfed in the white pillar of energy, blasting any remaining clouds in the atmosphere away.

Then then white energy died down until there was nothing left of it. The companions looked down at the Shinra building, trying to see any sign of Naruto, but they were too far away.

"Cid! Get us down there," Gaara ordered.

"You got it," he replied before turning the steering wheel and bringing the Highwind down to hover next to the broken down building. Everyone rushed out of the bridge and onto the deck. They peered over the edge.

And saw Naruto, lying still on the ground, in the middle of a large crater. His clothes had been torn to shreds; mere rags now hung off his frame. Gaara and Vincent were the first ones to vault over the edge and land next to the ninja, with the others close behind him

"Is he alive?" Aeris asked, almost crying.

Gaara knelt down and pressed his hand against Naruto's uncovered chest and was still for a minute.

"He's still breathing!" he announced.

"Yay!" "Alright!" "Yes!" "Thank goodness." And other similar responses were cried out in relief and joy.

Naruto's body shifted and everyone broke off their celebrating to study the blonde closely, wondering if he was waking up. That was when they all realised that his foxy features were released for everyone to see. That that wasn't the most shocking thing.

"Why does he have two tails now?" Cloud asked.