A/N Hello audience! I must say i have been twitching with excitement at this next few chapters, in fact i can promise these next either three, for, possibly five chapters will have some moments none of you saw coming. I really don't have anything else to mention besides a small internet reward to Velkan Wulf who now holds the most consecutive reviews in a week at basically one a day. Congratulations you won! Now it is on audience!
Ch 26
The outburst was followed by a large burst of fire flowing from the room. Everyone moved out of the way when the giant red dragon moved into the hallway, keeping its eyes on the group.
"What is a dragon doing here?" Yuffie yelled out before throwing her weapon at the large reptile. The shuriken harmlessly bounced off of the dragon's hide as it snorted. Barret ignored the display and started shooting at the dragon only for the bullets to sink in a little, and the boss came charging at the group making everyone scatter around the beast.
"Damn that thing's tough." Barret growled as he reloaded.
"It has to have a weakness. Find it." Cloud said right when the dragon lunged and tried to eat the two, but both dodged while it crashed into the ground. Taking advantage of the opening I got Fusion and tried to stab one of its legs only for the blade to stop four inches in and for the dragon to kick me and the blade away and into Aeris and Tifa.
"Fuck, that skin is thick." I helped the other two up who in turn kept back as support. Neither of their styles would harm the dragon.
"Keep it distracted, I'll use a summons." Aeris called as she started concentrating on her spell. Nanaki attacked the dragon's tail and bit down, causing it to roar and thrash around. Nanaki, to his credit, held on for a while before the boss slammed him into the wall. Cloud ran up and tried to cut the dragon with his sword. But the huge chunk of metal only got a few inches deep before the dragon caught on and tried to eat Cloud only for him to use the sword to block the mouth and get pushed into a wall.
"Cloud needs help!" Tifa yelled.
"I got it!" Aeris yelled. Suddenly the room started shaking and I looked around, then from the same room the dragon was in, something started walking out.
Titan was clearly larger than any living creature I had seen in my life. The giant had to duck to fit inside the entire room, but it easily outsized the dragon. The summon threw a punch at the dragon, knocking it across the room but the dragon got back up and started charging Titan. He braced himself and grappled with the giant lizard before throwing it to the side and attacking again while the dragon countered by breathing fire. The attack didn't look like it did damage to the summon but he suddenly started fading from existence.
"God damn it why is summoning time so short!" I charged a bolt spell and threw it at the dragon. The attack shocked the dragon but also annoyed it making me its new target. Instead of turning around it swept its tail knocking, me into a nearby wall. Thank god I wasn't smashed, that almost cracked my spine!
"Everyone huddle!" Tifa yelled. I quickly ran to her side thinking there was an area effect attack only to see her cast a few spells on the party. The first of which was Cure so everyone was in better shape. The next was Barrier; a thin line appeared around each person before disappearing. She then surprised me by casting Haste on the group. After having the spell cast on me I realized a few things about Time materia.
First of all, I still felt the same. No extra fast reflexes, no speed, nothing. However, everything else besides my friends moved...slower really. Granted I wasn't a cheetah going up against a hippo, but the speed difference was noticeable. Which is why everyone saw the tail swipe coming and jumped out of the way.
"We need to get past that skin!" Cloud yelled out. I was racking my brain. The Red Dragon didn't have any weaknesses and absorbed fire...but it was susceptible to Poison!
"Who has Poison?" I called while launching another lightning to keep the boss at bay.
"I do!" Nanaki called. Good, he was used to the materia by now.
"Try to bite hard enough to get the spell working inside it. It'll get weaker as we fight." I dodged another tail swipe.
"I need a distraction to find a weak enough part!" Nanaki jumped back from the dragon's flaming breath.
"Coming right up!" What came as a shock was Cid ran forward and jumped high enough to actually hit the dragon across its face with his spear. Being the newest target of the boss, it swiped at him only for the surprisingly agile old man to dodge over and over again. The entire group was almost shocked seeing Cid fight so effectively.
"Where the hell is that damn attack you over grown cat?" Cid yelled. Nanaki snapped out of watching at the spectacle and charged the dragon's head, which was now on the ground after an attempt at eating Cid.
"Go for the eyes, Nanaki! Go for the eyes!" He jumped and hit spot on as the dragon roared and knocks Nanaki off. Targeting him with one less eye. The dragon had a new found vigor and swiped at Nanaki, and when he dodged blew a very large fireball at him. Reacting, I ran up holding out my right hand and concentrating on my fire materia. The fireball impacted, but with the element added to my Genji gloves I was only pushed back by the force.
"Awesome!" I was suddenly pulled back by Tifa when the dragon's tail crashed down on where I was formerly standing.
"Don't lose focus now!" She yelled.
"Right." We still have a fairly dangerous dragon on our hands. Can't celebrate now. The now half blind dragon started to rampage more in the fight thanks to the poison now striking its brain. It would thrash its tail, swipe with its claws, and it seemed to have no end while breathing fire. Attacking it in this condition was suicide basically, so everyone used distance attacks. Cait was particularly useful with his mega phone, causing the dragon to stop with his ear splitting sounds.
"I think I can cut it, get out the way." Everyone moved from the dazed lizard when Cloud heaved his sword onto his shoulder then let it crash down onto the temple floor. A bright energy wave flew from the swords impact and went straight for the dragon's tail. Cloud's Blade Beam caused the boss to thrash around more, now missing one of its appendages.
"It's still dangerous." Vincent stated, he had been shooting at the dragon's head the entire time.
"Come on we can take it!" Yuffie yelled before jumping out the way of the rampaging dragon.
"We need another distraction to finish it." Cloud said.
"Who?" Aeris asked. The entire conversation I was trying to remember techniques from other games to stop the boss, or at least hinder it. I don't remember any Limit Breaks that targeted specific monsters. Maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong angle. Come on think! Any other Final Fantasy must have some kind of ultimate attack!
I slapped my face when the idea hit me, I didn't always have to do Limit Breaks, just copying basic attacks from other games helped. I must be a meat head for not thinking of this earlier.
"I can distract it." Everyone who wasn't fighting looked at me. "But I need everyone to finish it quick, otherwise I'm going to end up paste on a wall after too long."
"You're sure you can keep its attention?" Tifa asked. I nodded while pulling out Masamune.
"Sure of it." I started focusing on the highest level lighting spell I could muster. The gauntlets started to crackle and the blade soon had electrical currents running up and down. I smiled, Steiner thought of a pretty good idea, and I was my own Vivi, so I can pull off the spell blades all on my own. I ran towards the dragon's cut tail, jumped and stabbed Masamune as deep as I could into the exposed skin and let the lightning spell flow. Immediately the dragon started to ram into walls and try to imprint me into them.
"Alright, kill the thing already!" I yelled as I was being tossed around. Everyone got into gear and started assaulting the dragon with everything they had. Yuffie started throwing her star and shooting magic as it flew. Cid attacked the boss's head with Nanaki and surprisingly Tifa tried to get a few hits in. Cloud cleaved a couple of smaller body parts while Vincent, Cait, and Barret hung back to either make the thing's ears bleed or riddle what they could in bullets.
With me keeping its nerves shot, the dragon didn't have a chance. After being poisoned, cut, beaten, and shocked, the boss finally went down with a thud. I tried to pull out Masamune but having electricity go through my arms, even with element absorbing gloves, still made my arms tingle. I got Barret to pull it out for me while I approached the dragon's head. You know when it's not trying to barbecue and maim you, it looked pretty cool up close, classic western dragon and all. It had a small jewel in the middle of its head though...actually it was red and the size of a materia.
"Look what we have here."
"Dibs!" Before I could take the material, Yuffie ran over and pushed me back, reaching to the dragon's head and taking the summoning materia.
"Yes! I got a materia! It's mine now!" She started cheering.
"What the hell was that for Yuffie? God my back hurts now." Not to mention my head, this is solid stone, that fall hurt.
"I just had to wait and you found another awesome materia! Now I touched it first so I get to keep it."
"Yuffie, you could have just asked me and I would have let you use one of the materia I found."
"You never let me near your materia."
"Because you never ask!"
"Quiet down. Is Sephiroth nearby?" Cloud said.
"No he just disappeared." Aeris said.
"Look around the room." He ordered.
"I found something new, look!" Nanaki yelled at the end of the temple. Everyone went near the altar and found a floating image of the entire place in the middle; it had a very dark center.
"What is it?" Cloud asked.
"Something's written down here." Aeris looked at the side of the stone which had an odd looking dialect on it.
"B.L.A.C.K...M.A.T.E.R.I.A" She pronounced slowly. The room grew tense hearing the words.
"Black Materia!" Cloud shouted breaking everyone out of the mood.
"This is what Sephiroth wanted?" Tifa said looking at the image.
"This has the power to call Meteor. A simple materia has the power to destroy the world." Nanaki said in awe.
"Why didn't he take it when we were all distracted?" Barret asked.
"Perhaps the dragon was the temple guardian. It had to be killed before this appeared." Vincent mused.
"That still means he could have done it himself, Sephiroth could have taken the dragon easily." Cloud said with a thoughtful look.
"Well we're here, he's not. Let's take the materia and keep going." Yuffie said. Cloud nodded and reached for the materia. When he grasped it the entire complex started shaking and he quickly removed his hand.
"What the hell just happened?" Cid grumbled getting up from the floor.
"I don't know, when I touched it the temple shook...another trap?"
"Let me talk to the Ancients, maybe they know." Aeris said. She closed her eyes and soon enough started mumbling words.
"I don't understand...what? ...Really?" She opened her eyes and stared back at the group with shock.
"They say the temple itself is the Black Materia." Everyone looked confused.
"I don't get it." Cloud said. Aeris sighed in frustration.
"This whole building is the Black Materia."
"The ENTIRE temple, all of it is the Black Materia...how could anyone take it then?" Aeris pointed to the image.
"You see it's very hard. This is a model, inside is a device which makes it smaller each time you solve a puzzle. As it gets smaller, you do too. Until it fits into the palm of your hand."
"So if we solve the puzzles, the temple will get smaller and smaller until we can hold it as a materia?" Cloud asked. Aeris nodded.
"But there's one thing. You can only answer the puzzles inside the temple..."
"And the solver is crushed. An ingenious fail safe." Nanaki said.
"The Ancients didn't want the magic to get into the wrong hands."
"So it is safe here." Vincent said. Cloud immediately shook his head.
"No, we've got to think of a way to get it out. Sephiroth has too many junkies working for him, it's nothing to him to throw their lives away for the Black Materia. This place isn't safe."
"Now hold on Cloud, I agree with Vince, each time we've seen these flunkies they can barely think for themselves, let alone solve puzzles. And wouldn't he need a ton depending on the puzzles?" I tried to reason. If I wanted this to get easier, I have to start by making sure Cloud can't screw anything up because of Jenova and Sephiroth influencing him.
"He'll get more; he doesn't just have people from Nibelheim, Nathan. Who knows how many of those experiments he controls, and they all somehow find ways to reach Sephiroth." Well shit he has a point...maybe I could stop him from going insane outside so he keeps the materia then. I just need to be there.
"So, what do we do?"
"I know!" Everyone looked at Cait.
"We can use my stuffed body! I won't get hurt and I have enough brains to solve any of these puzzles." Cloud scowled.
"We can't let Sephiroth get the materia, but we can't let Shinra have it either."
"Then tell me what else can you do?" No one answered. "See, everyone please trust me. I meant it when I said I felt sorry for taking the Keystone. I want to make it up to you all." Everyone else seemed to debate if they should let him.
"I have to agree, if it's not safe here then we need Cait Sith, otherwise Sephiroth will get it first."
"I don't like it, but I do too." Nanaki added.
"Just let him take the stupid orb, then we can grab it back since he can't run away with it." Cid added. Everyone else came up with similar agreements when Cloud sighed.
"Fine. Do it."
"Alright, everyone run outside, I'll start when you're all safe." Everyone started running out. We got out and into the clock room when we noticed it was stuck on twelve thirty.
"Why won't it go back to ten thirty?" Asked Aeris.
"This may be Sephiroth's trap. Stay on guard." Cloud said while everyone ran across and went into a completely blank room with a door at the end. I kept to the very back of the group; I didn't want to be surprised when the next boss sprang out. Cloud went up to the door and tried to open it.
"It's warm."
"You mean locked, right?" Cid asked.
"No it feels like the knob is heated, in fact the whole door hot...this isn't good." I looked above him and saw from the shadows a large head was slowly creeping out.
"Cloud, above!" He narrowly jumped away from a claw smashing into the ground where he had been, everyone else got their weapons out.
"What the hell is this room?" Cid said holding his spear out.
"The temple has may traps for those who want destructive power." Nanaki said. The Demons Gate roared after fully revealing itself.
"Alright you Alien rip off, let's go!" I held onto Fusion, ready to attack.
"How are we supposed to kill a wall?" Yuffie basically screamed.
"What are you talking about? AVALANCHE is made of people who would make amazing demolition crews!"
"Damn right, watch!" I heard Barret say. He loaded something into his gun arm then he shot it at the Demons Gate. The explosion took a good chunk of the wall off and the boss was screaming.
"What was that!" Tifa yelled.
"I added a grenade launcher to my gun. I say it's cool." I had to agree, his Grenade Bomb attack did some serious shit to the wall. The boss didn't take it lying down though; it tore out a chunk of the temple ceiling and threw it at Barret who was knocked to the side. Tifa went to help him only to have another piece thrown at her, making it so she couldn't reach him. The other walls started crumbling when everyone stopped to notice the Demons Gate was moving closer.
"How can a wall move?" Yuffie yelled. I made an Air-Slash and formed a deep cut in the wall, but even though the monster was clearly in pain it kept getting closer.
"The doors locked! We're trapped; it's going to crush us!" Aeris yelled out behind everyone.
"We can take it!" Cait yelled into his mike and made a sonic attack. But the problem with Demons Gate was that it was a wall, so most of the attack bounced off and cause everyone else to clench their heads in pain from the rebound.
"It's still getting closer!" Nanaki yelled.
"We need to slow that fucker down!"
"I'll handle it." The gang looked at Vincent who took off his headband. "Everyone get back!" We all went to the farthest wall while Vincent started transforming in the middle of the room. His muscles bulged out, but they were getting bigger than the Galian Beast's, growing out of his muscles were large metal screws. His skin was turning paler than normal until he was finally ash white. He got up when his transformation was done and looked back at the group. The Frankenstein face he held had metal screws attached at the corners of his mouth and his eyes had a yellow glow. Death Gigas turned back to the wall, that was now halfway across the room and charged at it. He reared back his fist and smashed hard enough to make a foot deep imprint which the boss didn't like. It cut another chunk of roof off to fall on him, but it shattered with Gigas still standing like nothing happened.
Gigas slammed its other fist into the wall and grounded itself. The amazing part was the wall actually stopped in its tracks. Suddenly electricity started flowing from it and causing the wall to screech in pain. Everyone looked surprised until we all came to our senses and started attacking. I threw fire balls at the demon's face since I could only do damage to the wall with one attack. Barret launched another grenade at the monster while Tifa was able to knock some chunks out with her fists. Aeris made sure everyone was healed while Cloud, Cid, and Nanaki went head on towards the arms and head of the wall. Cid sliced the left while Nanaki tore at the right and Cloud dealt the finishing blow, cleaving the head straight down the middle. The body parts slumped before disintegrating; the wall started crumbling down until it was a pile of rubble, the real door revealed behind it.
"Are we done with the giant fucking monsters now? I need a drink after all this crap." Cid said. Everyone started putting their weapons away and heading out.
"Alright everyone, I'll handle the rest, you take care of yourselves." Cait was ecstatic to get smashed to pieces, that guy could be happy about anything! I looked over and saw Aeris who had a bit of a remorseful look on her face. She elbowed Cloud to say something while Cait was preparing himself. Cloud tried to say something, but he would trip over his words.
"I'm not good at this." He rubbed the back of his head. The cat just bounced around more.
"I understand, I feel the same way too."
"Hey, how about you read our fortunes?" Aeris asked, a little perked up.
"Oh yeah It's been a while since I've done that." He got into his usual dance. "I'm so excited, right or wrong; I'm still the same ol' me. Now what should I predict?"
"Let's see, how compatible Cloud and I are!" I noticed Tifa's jaw drop off to the side and Yuffie giggled while Cloud's eyes were wide open. But I saw a sad look in Aeris's eyes. Makes me think if she knows what's going to happen.
"Alright here I go!" He danced around and I had to laugh at it. "Your stars are perfect! They show a great future...poor Tifa. Don't worry Cloud. I'll be your matchmaker, your preacher! Just tell me when it all happens." Almost everyone laughed at Cloud's and Tifa's expense, Aeris joined along with it.
"Thank you for believing in me, even knowing that I was a spy. This is our final, final farewell." God I know I'm going to see the cat in ten minutes, but still he knows how to tug at your heart.
"Hey Cait" He looked at me. "Why don't you give me a fortune too?" The cat perked.
"So what do you want, who do you think you're compatible with?"
"Not that kind!" I heard Barret snicker behind me. "Just give me one for something in my life in general" He nodded and did his dance, he handed me my fortune.
"A hero's path is paved with pain and self sacrifice, in the end, it is whether you remember what you stand for that makes the journey worthwhile," I read out loud.
"Awww, another dud." I smiled and patted the mogs slumped shoulders.
"I'm sure it isn't Cait, now go on and be a hero." I waved and went through the door, followed by the rest of the group.
"Come on; let's get out fast so he can get it done." Cloud said. Everyone ran out the tunnel which led to the outside of the temple, we all felt some rumbling before we started running again. We quickly found the exit and ran to the bridge when the Temple of the Ancients started glowing black and suddenly disappeared as the dark field became smaller and smaller until the outer walls blocked our views. Cloud ran in first as everyone followed.
Where the tall and vast complex once stood was now just a big crater. Everything was gone; the only thing left was a dark jewel in the middle of the huge hole.
"That's the Black Materia." Cloud said, looking deeply into the hole.
"Let's go get it." Aeris said. He nodded and turned to us.
"Everyone else stay up here, make sure no one like Shinra gets close."
"Cloud maybe you could take everyone down, it's not that big a crater if we all defend it" I reasoned. He just shook his head.
"Aeris and I can handle it, stay up here." He jumped down and Aeris followed. Everyone else started walking around the crater. I stood where I was, acting like I was keeping an eye out; I made sure to put my full attention on Cloud.
(3rd POV)
"As long as we have this Sephiroth won't be able to use Meteor." Cloud said as he picked up the materia. He could feel the aura around it much like other materia, but this one gave off something that made him want to get rid of it. Like it wasn't meant to be used. It had the exact opposite feeling of when he held Aeris's White Materia.
"Hmmm. Can you use it?" He asked her. It was the entire temple in a black orb; maybe she had some connection to it. But she shook her head.
"We can't use it right now; you need great spiritual power to use it."
"You mean lots of it?" She nodded.
"One person's power alone won't do it, only somewhere special where there is plenty of the Planet's energy...oh yeah! Like the Promised Land!"
"The Promised Land!" So that's why Sephiroth was searching for it. Without it even he couldn't use the power of the Black Materia. That was a relief. But does that mean that he found it since he was here? "No. But..."
"Sephiroth is not an Ancient. He shouldn't be able to find the Promised Land."
"Ah But I have." Both turned to see the man in question suddenly at the edge of the crater.
"I am far superior to the Ancients, I became a traveler of the Lifestream and gained the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients. I also gained the knowledge and wisdom of those after the extinction of the Ancients." He slowly floated off the ground, hovering over the crater. "I will create the future."
"I won't let you do it; the future is not only yours!" Aeris shouted at Sephiroth. The entire gang was surrounding the hole now ready to attack.
"Hmmm I wonder..." Both he and Cloud stared at each other until Sephiroth muttered.
"Wake up." Suddenly a burst caused the team above ground to get shot in different directions. Cloud suddenly felt the same pain he did in the temple and fell to the ground. The pain in his head was throbbing and killing him. Everything around him felt like it was frozen. He saw Aeris trying to warn him but she was silent and moving so slow.
"Shut up!" He couldn't stop hearing a ring in his ear, it made him want to tear himself apart. "The noise..." He said through clenched teeth. He was on the ground smashing his head. Trying to ignore the pain but it just wouldn't go away
"There Cloud...good boy." Sephiroth held out his hand. "Come...give me the Black Materia." Cloud slowly got up but now he felt conflicted. He had to give him the materia so the pain would stop. Sephiroth would make everything better, that's how it worked. He started to walk.
No!
He couldn't have kept it away from him forever, Sephiroth would have gotten it anyway, why not give it to him now? He felt so scared, what would happen if Sephiroth kept giving him the pain? He needed to get rid of the materia.
Don't be afraid!
It will all end soon and he'll feel better, Sephiroth is right.
Don't listen!
Why did he fight all this time? Sephiroth was destined to win. It was inevitable.
Fight it off!
Sephiroth had always been right, why hadn't he seen it before?
Please don't do it!
Sephiroth wants the materia, Cloud must give it to him.
NO!
"Well done Cloud." Sephiroth laughed. Everything fell perfectly into place. He flew off and his illusion fell. Everyone was back to normal. Aeris noted that Sephiroth was here one second and gone the next. Now Cloud was staring off into space.
"Cloud... are you alright?"
"I gave the Black Materia... to Sephiroth?" Aeris was mortified at the words. Cloud turned and fell onto his knees, almost sobbing at what he did.
"What...what did I do...Aeris...tell me..." He was clenching the dirt in his hands; a completely lost and fearful look replacing his normal facade. Aeris was worried. The temple was wary of Cloud. She had heard many things from the disembodied voices of the Ancients, but they all were fearful of Cloud. Because they all said he had the same blood as Sephiroth. That's why she didn't pester how he acted in the temple. If she could keep him strong he could beat this. She knelt down next to him.
"Cloud... be strong. Okay?" The words only served to make him less stable. He yelled at the top of his lungs, he stood clenching his head as if he were in pain.
"UURRRRRAGHHHHHH! WHAT HAVE I DONE?" She held onto his shoulders, trying to calm him.
Cloud...you haven't done anything." She was more worried than ever, her words didn't seem to get through to him. "It's not your fault." Suddenly he looked at her; she finally saw the crazed look in his eyes. They looked just like Sephiroth's.
He jumped at her and started to attack. She was so afraid. Cloud was completely different from before. This wasn't supposed to happen. She felt his fists impact and held her arms up in defense. Cloud was going berserk and trying to kill her with his bare fists. It felt like forever but finally she heard a friendly voice after Cloud was suddenly thrown off.
"Get him, hold him down! Put him to sleep, just help!"
(nrml POV)
I was ready the instant he appeared. I had Fusion in position to kill. I was more than ready to attack Sephiroth with only magic if it meant I could prevent him from getting the materia. But I never counted on one thing.
His illusions.
Somehow he had the abilities to warp time and space for AVALANCHE. He froze everyone. I didn't even notice it until I realized he flew away. I couldn't believe it; he had just stopped everyone in place and took the materia. How could he have that kind of power? I knew he was deadly, but to stop me in my tracks before I even think of my move...
"UURRRRRAGHHHHHH! WHAT HAVE I DONE?" I snapped out of it and saw Cloud in an even worse state than he was in the temple. He was going insane. I wasn't able to do anything to prevent it. Sephiroth got the materia.
Suddenly he started attacking Aeris. I couldn't think about my failures now, I can make them up. Aeris needed help!
"Woh, looks like I came at a bad time." I turned to see the same cat and mog that sacrificed himself in the temple. "Hi I'm Cait Sith No-"
"CAN THE SHIT Reeve! Get down there now and help Aeris!" I jumped down and kicked Cloud off Aeris, soon Barret and Tifa came down only for him to focus on them. Nanaki jumped and knocked him back. Vincent got him in a sleeper hold but he hit him in the side and escaped. Barret tackled him and held onto his arms, Cid came up and held one of his legs while Yuffie got the other. But he was still struggling.
"Get him, hold him down! Put him to sleep, just help!" I yelled. Finally Nanaki used a Sleep spell to calm him down. I ran over to Aeris and searched her over. She looked really beat up, that SOLDIER strength was too much for her. I took her Restore and started healing her the best I could. She was unconscious when I was done. The beating took too much out of her.
"What do we do?" Tifa sounded more concerned than she had in her life.
"We go to the nearest town, Gongaga. We let them heal and then we talk about it." I said coldly. I picked up Aeris and started to head for the Tiny Bronco's direction. Everyone else followed behind me with Barret carrying Cloud.
God why did this have to happen? Why didn't I think of this?...it's okay...We just need to let them both rest. Maybe I can get Aeris to stay with us and lead us to the Sleeping Forest. She doesn't need to sacrifice herself, I know she doesn't...she's too important to die now.
I can't let her be the hero like this...she can do it when we all fight Sephiroth...together.