
Final Fantasy VII®
The Sephiroth Apocalypse
By: D.A.P.
Cobra7455@aol.com
¢ðß®å
Part 3
The Four Destructions
Chapter 11
'Krypt Materia'
"How will we find all the pieces before Sephiroth does?" asked Heather walking over to sit next to Cloud. "And why are we going to Nibelheim?" "What!?" Cid said looking at Cloud, wondering himself. "We're going where?" "We need to go to Nibelheim," Cloud replied looking back up at Cid. "Sephiroth will be there, to find one of those materia pieces." "Well..." Case said walking on the bridge. "If he can't get all of the pieces, he can't activate the 'Unknown Materia'." "What do you mean?" asked Cloud getting up. "I mean this," Case said showing everyone the 'Holy Materia'. "Without this he can't start that thing." "How'd? Where'd? When'd ya get that?" Cloud said astonished. "When you guys were 'bout to leave the Forgotten City," Case said walking over to give Cloud a better look. "I was told to get the green materia in the bottom of the water." "That's why you were wet," Cid said. Case nodded and kept talking, "Anyway, the 'Black Materia' has disappeared since the incident two years ago, but Sephiroth is going for one of the other destruction materia that's in the Nibelheim reactor......maybe." "Then let's get him," Barret said. "Wait! What d'ya mean, maybe?" "What I mean...maybe. I'm not sure if he's there now, but, better safe than sorry," Case said as the Highwind sped off for Nibelheim. "Damnit," Sephiroth cursed under his breath. "That fucking piece has to be here somewhere." Sephiroth looked around inside the Nibelheim reactor for the 'Krypt Materia'. He looked inside one of the mako chambers and saw a bunch of mechanical devices turning and squishing around the mako energy. He got down and remembered the past time "he" was here. He knew that there were monsters inside the chambers, but since the Meteor incident, Shinra had gotten ride of this problem with the making of the MR's. The creatures were replaced by mako runners, which could use mako energy and then put it back into the planet, getting rid of the monster problem. "Hmm...It could be..." He continued to look as he walked up to the Jenova chamber and started to look in there. He saw the statue without it's head and walked up to it. He started to get frustrated as he was searching for any type of container or compartment. He looked around the base of Jenova and saw the outline of what seemed to be an area below it. "Ahh...Why else would a reactor be built in the mountains." He pushed over the Jenova statue and tried to open the lid. "Damn...stuck." He brought up his right arm and morphed his hand into a sort of spike to puncture the covering. It didn't take much for the cover to break and Sephiroth looked in to hope what he thought was there. Sure enough, there was an odd shaped, gray materia, sitting on a stand. "One fourth complete. Now I just hope that Cloud doesn't make on of his "grand" entrances." "Damn!" Cloud said running up to the reactor. "He's here already here! Vincent, Cid, Katlyn, Cait Sith, Nanaki, go around the sides just in case Sephiroth finds another way to get out." The five split up and ran to each side. "Let's go." Cloud, Heather, Case, Yuffie, Barret, and Tifa ran though the front to stop Sephiroth when he busted out of the front door. The force from the impact sent Cloud flying back into the other as Sephiroth flew back as well. The other group heard the crash and ran to the front. When they arrived they saw Sephiroth getting up but obviously hurt. "Stop right there!" Cid said boldly. "I always wanted to say that. Anyway, you aren't going anywhere Sephiroth." "Huh?" Sephiroth asked in a daze. "Oh...you think you can stop me? You think you can get all of the destruction materia before me? You think you can defeat me? Well go ahead, take your best shot." "Ok," Vincent said aiming his gun shoot at Sephiroth three times. The bullets hit Sephiroth's sword, the 'Krypt Materia' he was holding, and the final bullet hit right at his upper right leg where his body was mechanical. Sephiroth fell down from his leg malfunctioning and his sword and the 'Krypt Materia' flew out of his hands. By that time Cloud and the other were getting up as the sword came down and stuck in the ground next to Barret, and the 'Krypt Materia' bounced off the ground and rolled next to Heather who pocketed it. "Goddamn you," Sephiroth cursed kneeling on his good knee but finally standing up. "You damn pricks. I'll kill you this time and then, I'll be happy." Sephiroth smiled sadistically then with his right hand he punched out Cloud, grabbed his sword, and flew over to kill Case once more. Heather, confused in shock, took the materia she picked up and held it in front of her. The materia glowed and Heather's mind was filled with the knowledge of it. She opened her eyes and yelled out, "Krypt Spire!" A little while passed when suddenly graves started to pop up from the ground. Hands grabbed Sephiroth to keep him from escaping, and then a huge towering spire rose up from the ground two hundred yards away. There was a slight pause before the spire hummed a low note and started buzzing loudly. After that it shot out a flaming greenish blue beam that covered Sephiroth and the top of the mountain. Soon after the beam stopped, the spire went back into the ground and the graves and hands disappeared. Sephiroth was still for quite a long time when he finally showed some sign of life. "Ugh..." he mumbled painfully. "That materia packs quite a punch. I think I'll just use my own powerful weapon." Sephiroth then got up and cut off a bit of his hand. "There you go. Christmas is coming early this year, and I hope you don't break the toy I'm making you." Sephiroth backed out of the way not to get hit in the battle as the little piece started to grow into a complex machine. It grew up to about ten feet tall with two laser turrets, ten laser cannons on the sides, a mega beam cannon in the middle of its chest, and two pulse cannons on its back. "My Laser Master! Have fun with it! Hopefully I can get back that materia from your dead bodies!" Then it seemed like Sephiroth flew off to Cloud and the others, but he was really planning on taking away the materia during the battle. The Laser Master loomed towards the group of people, lasers charged and ready to fire. Cloud signaled to Vincent to go to the right, and Barret to go to the left. Then he signaled Yuffie, Katlyn, Tifa, and Cid to go to the rear of the machine. Cloud, Case, Nanaki, Cait Sith, and Heather stayed in front. Then the Laser Master charged up it's pulse cannons and shot at the five in the front. The pulses hit directly on them, "Damn!..." Cloud said trying to use his materia. "It that shock muted me!" "Then it seems to have muted all of us," Nanaki said trying to use his materia as well. "I just hope that thing doesn't have anymore surprises," Cloud said reaching into his pocket. He pulled out an Echo Screen, from a previous battle, and cured himself. Case threw some knives into the Laser Master that hit right on some of the little cannons. Cloud signaled to Vincent and Barret to shoot the robot down. Barret and Vincent opened fire on the machine inflicting minor damage on the outer shell. Then Cloud told the four in the back to attack it. Yuffie threw a star at the Laser Master and hit it right at the back of it's head. Tifa rushed forward and punched down one of its legs to knock it off balance. Then Cid stabbed it right in its back with his spear while Katlyn knocked out one of it's pulse cannons with her pole. Then when Heather was about to use the 'Krypt Materia' when the Laser Master did its special move, 'Laser Spin'. Then it's upper torso started spinning around in circles while it's lasers charged to the max, and then unleashed a firestorm of laser beams upon Cloud and the rest. The multiple blasts hit all of them, almost spinning them around just from the force. The Laser Master stopped shooting and spinning it's upper body, to watch the entire group fall to the ground. Then Sephiroth flew back and took the 'Krypt Materia' out of Heather's lifeless hands. "Heh heh heh..." he chuckled proudly. "Now it's time to find the 'Black Materia'. Laser Master, finish them off." Laser Master beeped back an agreeing reply then walked over to Cloud and started to charge up it's mega beam cannon to the max to fry Cloud. Sephiroth walked over to Case getting ready to kill him. "At last. Now it's time to get you out of my hair once and for all." Sephiroth got ready to thrust the cold hard steel of his Masamune into Case's body when Case moved. "You know I'm like gum," Case said opening his eyes, knocking Sephiroth's Masamune out of the way of his chest. "Once I'm in your hair, I never get out." Case stabbed Sephiroth right in his mechanical leg part. Sephiroth screamed and fell to the ground while Case pulled out five shock daggers and threw them all at Laser Master. The daggers stuck right in the Laser Master and started electrocuting and the mechanoid. The Laser Master jerked about before firing its mega beam cannon into the air and finally walked right off the cliff. After Case heard it explode at the bottom he walked over to Sephiroth and pulled out his sword. "Now then. Give me the 'Krypt Materia' or I'll kill you off. Wait...I could kill you first, then I'd be able to take the materia away from you easily." "Wait a minute," Sephiroth said astonished. "You're the good guy. You aren't supposed to kill me. At least not like this." "Why not?" Case asked back. "I didn't sign a contract, and it would take a whole deal of stress off of my back." Case stood above Sephiroth waiting for a reply. "Well...Are you going to say anything?" "No," Sephiroth said shortly. "Damn," Case thought. "He's trying to trick me or something, but I gotta stay on my best guard and not let him slip through." Sephiroth finally got up, his leg buzzing from Case's damage, and started to hover away. Case just stood there not knowing what to do as Sephiroth's figure got smaller and smaller until it was gone. Everyone else started to wake up and look around. "What happened?" asked Katlyn looking around. "Where's Sephiroth or that Laser Master?", asked Tifa. "The Laser Master took a bad step and fell of the cliff," Case told them going to sit down on a rock. "Sephiroth made off with the 'Krypt Materia'. I couldn't stop him." "I'm sorry Case," Katlyn said trying to soothe him. "He is tough, and he's a rea-" "It's not that," Case told her getting up. "It's that because it scares me to think that Sephiroth is my father. I guess it's a weak spot that he took advantage of, not even knowing it." "You'll be fine," Cloud reassured him. "You can find a way to block that out of your head or else you will never be able to face him again." "But I practically GAVE him the 'Krypt Materia'!" Case said doubtfully. "Believe me," Cloud said remembering the Temple accident. "I know how you feel. Exactly how you feel. I gave Sephiroth the 'Black Materia' once, two years ago." "You're right," Case told Cloud realizing what he was saying. "I have to get over this and face him sooner or later or else he'll have control over me, and I don't want that." Case got some new spirit in him and started down the mountain. "Where you goin' off in a hurry?" Barret asked stopping him. "I'm going off to find myself," Case replied still heading down the mountain. "And my courage, to find and kill Sephiroth." "Case!" Katlyn said running towards him. "Wait! Don't leave me. Please." "I wish you could come," Case said, holding her close. "I just need time to strengthen myself, for Sephiroth." "Just promise me you'll come back," she told him. "I promise," he replied and then walked down the mountain till he was completely gone. "Will we ever see him again?" Katlyn asked Cloud. "I wish I knew. I wish I knew," he replied. "He acts kinda the way I use to act when I was alone." "So..what now?" asked Cid. "Sephiroth's already got one of those materia." "He's probably going to find another one too," Vincent said reloading his gun. "Yeah," Barret said reattaching his hand. "But we don't know which one." "I think it might be the one he left behind," Nanaki said. "That'd mean it's the 'Black Materia' he'd go after next," Tifa said. "NO NO NO NOOO!" Yuffie complained shaking her head. "I'm not going to stay if that freak calls Meteor again." "Relax," Cloud said trying to calm her. "We're going to stop him this time, before anything really bad happens. And I won't let him try anything on any of us while I'm still alive." Cloud's speech "energized" everyone to get up and agree that they would all stop Sephiroth no matter what the cost. "Next stop, Northern Crater." They grabbed all their stuff and headed off for the Highwind.
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Chapter 12
'Black Materia'
The Highwind soared through the air, racing towards the Northern Crater. "We have to get there fast," Cloud said calmly. "Sephiroth can't be allowed to get any other materia." "Have you ever wondered?" Heather asked looking up. "If three of those materia are 'Krypt', 'Holy', and 'Black'. Then what's the name of the last one?" Everyone stopped doing what they were doing and thought about Heather's question. "I think I speak for all of us," Vincent said from the corner. "When I say I don't have the slightest idea." "Now wait a minute," Cid interrupted. "I like to speak my mind and I might have something to say." "Do you?" Vincent asked looking at Cid. "......uh...no," Cid said quietly. "Then what are you bitching about?" Vincent asked Cid. "Stop the fighting guys," Cloud said stopping Cid from talking back. "We need to concentrate on Sephiroth." "Sure," Vincent replied walking off of the bridge. "I can do that," Cid said. "Good," Cloud said walking to Cid. "Then Cid you can start by moving us out of the way of that mountain." Alarmed, Cid turned around to see a gigantic mountain moving closer to them. He rushed to the wheel to turn out of the way and just barely cleared the mountain. There was a little bump from when the Highwind hit the very peak of the mountain, but other than that there was no substantial damage. "That was close," Cid said with a sigh of relief. "Yeah..too close," Cait Sith said jumping out from behind a complex looking machine. "Try keeping your eye on what's in front of you." Cid looked menacingly at the cat and turned around to steer the ship. Sephiroth stumbled along on an icy white blanket of snow. "Why'd I pick such a terrible place to destroy the planet," he said looking up the road, seeing the Icicle Inn and beyond that the Great Glacier. "Good. I needed a place to rest." He walked in the town and right to the item store. "Yes sir may I-" the store keeper said looking at him and seeing he only had on some torn pants. "You'll freeze out there if all you wear is some pants and gloves. Hell, I'm surprised that you're alive at all." "Do...do you have...cl,clothes?" Sephiroth chattered back. "How interesting that you ask cause I have an exact copy of Sephiroth's original suit. It was hard to come by. Hell, I don't even remember how I got it," the store clerk said showing Sephiroth a rack full of clothes. "Good," Sephiroth said punching the guy in the face knocking him out cold. "I'll take it." Sephiroth jumped over the counter to the clothes rack and started rummaging through them till he found his suit. "Ahh...Perfect fit." He looked around the store some more and saw a corner full of snowboarding equipment. "Hmm...I might as well have a bit of fun while I take over the planet." He walked over to the supplies and picked up a snowboard. He walked out of the store looking and feeling like his old self, "Now, time to reclaim what was once mine." He ran over to the snowboarding hill and pushed the guy trying to block his path out of his way. "Hey!" the guy yelled back at Sephiroth. "I was just trying to help. You know it's slippery, and you could get hurt!! Bitch." Sephiroth saw the massive hill at his feet and almost shuddered at the sight. Then after a big sigh he jumped off and started going down the hill. The snowboard slid faster and faster down the curving hill while Sephiroth had to maneuver past rocks and other obstacles. Then at the very end of the hill Sephiroth flew out into the white, but instead of falling, he turned on his jetpack and started flying through the air past the Great Glacier to the Northern Crater. Case walked along the shoreline of a beach near Nibelheim and sat down. "I need to find myself," he said apparently to himself. "How could I defeat Sephiroth, my father? How?" "I will show you the way," a woman's voice said all of a sudden. "I will help you." "How?" Case said replying to the voice. "How can you help me? I can't even see you." "Close your eyes. They bare a burden on how you view things," the voice said. "Become one with the planet, and the Lifestream." Feeling stupid, Case did what the voice told him, he closed his eyes and started to meditate. He felt himself move with the planet and becoming one with it's energy, with the Lifestream. When he opened his eyes he saw a young woman before him, with brown hair and green eyes. "Hello," the woman said. "Look upon me as your guide." "Huh?" Case said dumbfounded, looking around and seeing a pale green everywhere. He looked down to saw streams of mako flowing freely. "Where am I and why do I need a guide?" "I am here to help you find yourself," the woman said leaning towards him. "That IS what you wanted right?" "Yeah but-" "So that's why I'm here," she interrupted. "Follow me." She started walking along what seemed like nothing but was really a transparent glowing green road. Case saw her motion for him to follow her and ran to her to see what she had to show him. Meanwhile in the Highwind, the crew anticipated the moment to be able to fight Sephiroth again. "Come on," Barret said attaching his gun-arm. "I'm itching to get back at Sephiroth for sooo many reasons." "You'll get your chance," Vincent said polishing his gun. "As will all of us." "Alright you guys," Cloud said trying to get everyone's attention. "We're coming close on the Northern Crater, and if you remember, there are some tough creatures down there. Plus! Don't forget we are trying to get the 'Black Materia' as well, not just kill Sephiroth." Everyone mumbled an agreement even though they all really wanted a piece of Sephiroth. "We're here," Cid told Cloud. "Well then," Cloud said heading out. "Let's go!" The ladder dropped down and touch right on the ground. "I'll stay in the Highwind," Cid said sending them off. "Just in case some monsters try to come up." Cloud nodded and started down the ladder, then Barret, then Tifa, and so on and so on until they were all on the ground. "Let's split up into three groups," Cloud said. "We can cover more ground that way." Tifa, Barret, and Vincent were in group one, Katlyn, Yuffie, and Cait Sith were in group two, and Cloud, Heather, and Nanaki were in group three. "Ok. Remember, if you get lost just use your PHS to contact the other groups or the Highwind in an emergency." "Yeah yeah we know," Barret said starting down. "Now let's get this part over with. I don't wanna be down here any longer than I need to. (How did I get dragged into this Sephiroth crap anyhow?)" The three groups split up and started down the Northern Crater to the basin where Cloud gave the real Sephiroth the 'Black Materia'. Sephiroth trudged into the room with all the mako where the first WEAPON woke up and looked around. "Ahhh..." he sighed looking around. "Old stomping grounds. Heh heh, calling Meteor was fun. Too bad that blasted 'Holy Materia' had to come in, oh and the Lifestream too." He blasted up to the top of the room where he was imprisoned in a shell of mako and looked around. "Damn...How could I lose a little black stone in a place like this?" He looked around briefly before realizing what had happened and flew out like a bat out of hell. "Keep close," Cloud told his group. "It gets pretty dark from here." "Hey!" Heather shouted scaring the two half to death. "I see something ahead." "I see it as well," Nanaki said staring hard into the darkness. All three of them looked ahead and saw a small red glowing light, but not an ordinary light cause it was getting bigger and bigger. "Uh-oh," Cloud said worried. "It's Sephiroth." Sephiroth charged on, knowing that Cloud was there, to get out of the Northern Crater to look for the 'Black Materia'. Cloud stood ready for Sephiroth's impact and told Heather to fire one of her arrows. She did and missed Sephiroth who grabbed the arrow and stopped to return it to Heather. "Here you go," Sephiroth said giving her the arrow. "I think you dropped this." Heather grabbed the arrow back quickly and turned around to pout. "What do you want?" Cloud asked Sephiroth. "Why, the normal," Sephiroth told him. "Destroy the planet, kill you, and kill..you." "Oh that's original," Heather said still mad at him. "Did you come to tell us something?" Nanaki asked growling. "Or are you just wasting our time?" "A little from column 'A' and a little from column 'B'," Sephiroth said jokingly. "Tell me why you're leaving or I cut you open a new mouth," Cloud threatened holding his sword at Sephiroth's neck. "Actually," Sephiroth said, getting a bit worried about Cloud. "You don't need to waste your time here. The materia has already woken up." "What do ya mean by that?" Cloud said letting go of Sephiroth. "I mean...it's not here. None of the destruction materia will be in the Northern Crater unless one of them returns," Sephiroth told Cloud. "And what's that suppose to mean?" Nanaki asked. Sephiroth laughed and flew off, out of the Northern Crater to look for 'his' materia. Meanwhile, Case follow the woman on the green road until she stopped and showed him a window. "A window?" Case said surprised. "You made me walk about a mile or four to look at a window?" "No silly," the woman said. "Look in the window." Case did what she said and saw a familiar room. "That's the...the Shinra laboratory level," Case said uneasily. "That's where I was born...as an experiment." "I'm going to show you this. You need to see," the woman said. Case looked again and saw Prof. Hojo and Sephiroth standing by a table. "Why did you want me to come?" Sephiroth asked. "I need you," Hojo said. "For my project I'm working on." "And what is this project?" asked Sephiroth. "To breed a new Cetra so we can find out more about them. Plus we could also use it as our warrior," Hojo told Sephiroth. "Will it be under my command?" Sephiroth asked. "It depends," Hojo said, "Do you want to help me breed it?" "You mean I have to..." Sephiroth started. "With that Cet-" "Of course not you fool," Hojo told him. "I just need your seed to impregnate the Cetra woman." "Oh," Sephiroth said. "Then I get to train this somewhat "child" of mine to be in SOLDIER like me." "Fine with me," Hojo said. "Just as long as we have control over it." Case pulled away from the window and looked at the woman. "Why are you showing me this!?" Case yelled. "Like I don't think that my life sucks already. Then you show me how I came into the world.....as an experiment!" "Look more," the woman said. "You haven't seen the entire thing." Case looked again with disgust in his face. Ifalna was holding a newborn baby in a cell in the laboratory deck. "The time has come Cetra," the guard said. "That's right," Hojo said walking into the cell. "Your child is now ours." "No!" Ifalna said. "Don't take Case!" "Oh a name!? We'll have to remember it," Hojo said grabbing the baby from Ifalna and pushing her to the ground. "I better keep this guard here just in case." Ifalna took Aeris into her arms and told her to not worry then she jumped the guard and took his gun. She ran out of the cell and onto the elevator. Going down she ran into some more guards in the opposite elevator. They shot at her and missed then she aimed and fired two shots that knocked one guard out of the elevator. One of the guards fired and almost hit Aeris, that Ifalna got mad and she sprayed bullets on to the two remaining guards. The guards got hit pretty badly and another one fell off the elevator while the last one hung on. He took one shot before he let go hitting Ifalna right in her arm. The elevator slowed down to a stop and Ifalna and Aeris stumbled out. "We must get to a safe place Aeris," Ifalna said trying to comfort her. "So we can rest. I just hope your brother knows that I wish I could've saved him as well as you." They walked along, slowly, to the train station and got on. "All stops for the sector 7 slums!" the conductor yelled. "Let's get off here," Ifalna told Aeris weakly. They both got out of the train and walked off to the sector 5 slums to get out of Midgar. Unfortunately she didn't have a key to the gate so her and Aeris were stuck there. They turned back and found a church along the way and decided to stay in there so Shinra wouldn't be able to find them. Then one day, four years later, Ifalna tried to get up to the top plate to retrieve her lost son when some guards recognized them on the top plate and shot at them both. Ifalna was wounded badly and Aeris was scared to death but they finally made it to the train station again. The train stopped at sector 7 and they both got off and Ifalna fell to the ground. A woman came up to her to look at what happened. "Please..." Ifalna said weakly. "Take...my d..daughter....take ..Aeris...and look..after..her. Please." "Yes," Elmyra said. "I will." After that Ifalna became lifeless and Elmyra took Aeris to her home to raise her. "Case.." Ifalna muttered out. "I will always love you...you and Aeris both..." After she died the conductor took her body and buried it in the train graveyard. "Sir sir!" yelled a guard. "The Jenova-human hybrid is loose!" "Damn! I can't lose my prize specimen," Hojo said running into the cage room. "I'll stop it," Sephiroth said. "I won't allow it to leave." "Hmm..." Hojo muttered rubbing his chin. "This may prove to be interesting." The creature stepped forward to Sephiroth and it asked him to get out of the way. Case was stunned and looked at the woman who motioned him to look back at the window. "Get back to your cell," Sephiroth demanded drawing his blade. "Or I will force you to go back." "You can't stop me," the hybrid said boldly. "I will not stand to stay in this captivity. To be poked at by your professors. I will be free." It flashed a green light that blinded Sephiroth then it ran up and punched Sephiroth down and flew out of a window. Sirens were sounding and people were running crazy in the halls. A little boy walked around the walls to a small venting chute and climbed in. "Do you know who that boy is?" the woman asked Case, pulling him away from the window. "It's my brother." "But I was escaping at that time I-" Case stopped and thought. "Then your my? But it can't be possible. How can you be here?" "I AM here. It's you who is not here," the woman said. "Your spiritual energy manifested here with my help and I guided you." "I never even got a chance to see you Aeris," Case told her. "I never knew you till a while back. I want a hug before I have to leave." Case and Aeris started hugging when he stopped and asked, "How does this help me fight Sephiroth?" "Look at the window again," Aeris told him. Case looked and saw all the destruction, torture, and chaos Sephiroth had put everyone through and his hate started to grow towards Sephiroth. "You must control your anger but remember it when you are faced against Sephiroth alone. This may help you, it may not help you, but you should feel for Sephiroth like I felt for Sephiroth. Besides, the Sephiroth that is your father died seven years ago to my knowledge. So remember, the one you're fighting is just a clone." "He killed you?" Case asked, she nodded. "Because of him I wasn't able to see my sister in person. Instead I have to wait till you come to me as a vision, and Cloud loved you. Sephiroth, he, killed everything that I could've cared about." "How do you think Cloud felt?" Aeris asked him remembering his brief trip through the Lifestream. "He was the same way, full of hatred, confusion, and deception. He was basically a wreck, but he made it." "Hey!" Case said with excitement. "Do you think there might be a way to bring you back?" "There might be a way but it'd probably be impossible. Why'd you ask?" Aeris said. "Well," Case said. "You saw how Sephiroth was brought back. Maybe I can force Edin to make a clone of you like he did Sephiroth." "That would be impossible," Aeris said. "My body is under water at the City of the Ancients." Case looked depressed for a moment but then perked right up. "I remember when I was little, Shinra took some of my blood and froze it to try and make some clones of me, but I was too smart and took it when I escaped," Case said. "They might have some of your blood from when you were there too." "Ok.", Aeris said, "Go and look to see if they have some of my blood. But that won't all though." Case looked at her with a puzzled look. "You'll need some of my Spirit Energy to bring in my new life." "Wait," Case said thinking. "What about your Promise Land? I looked up on it in the Shinra Mansion. The Cetra would find their Promise Land at the end of their journey. And I think your journey ended when you died. I don't want to force you out." "Oh no Case!" Aeris told leading him back. "This IS my Promise Land, but I've seen what has been going on. I've come to realize that I can't do anything from here, since this new terror goes beyond this planet. I WANT to be brought back and I want to help you all again." "Well...if you want. Anyway what were you goin' on about your Spirit Energy?" "OH!" Aeris said remembering what she was talking about before. "You to soak the clone in my Spirit Energy and let it go inside "me" so that the clone will have all my memories and thoughts. Basically so it can be me. Here." She gave him a small glowing pouch with her Spirit Energy inside. "That should be enough. It's quantity is surprising, but that's not all. There is a chant, a chant that only the Cetra can do to ask back the soul of another Cetra. Unfortunately his chant was hardly used, seeing since when the Cetra died, they found supreme happiness. I can't tell you what it is. You must find it on your own." "Thanks Aeris," Case said giving her one last hug. "I'm sure I'll find out the chant somehow. I'll have you back before this thing is over." Case waved bye and ran off in the direction he came, trying to remember all that Aeris told him. "All groups report to the Highwind now!" Cloud said into the PHS on all frequencies. All three groups started to run to the Highwind when they all ran into each other. "Let's get out of here fast." "Why?" asked Tifa. "Sephiroth's going to try and kill WEAPON." "But ain't that good?" Barret asked confused. "Not when WEAPON holds the destruction materia," Cloud told him. They all climbed up the ladder and ran to the bridge. "Follow Sephiroth when he comes out of the Northern Crater." "Why?" Cid started. "Just do it," Cloud told him. "Sephiroth is going to be looking for WEAPON." Just then Sephiroth flew out of the crater into the sky. "Go!" The Highwind sped off after Sephiroth who was trying to find Dark WEAPON to get back the 'Black Materia'. Dark WEAPON soared above the plains of a remote island when Sephiroth flew into it like a bullet. Dark WEAPON flew down to the ground, hurt slightly and mad. Sephiroth had torn a hole straight through its arm like it was made of paper. "Heh," Sephiroth chuckled looking down on the creature. "I was expecting more of a fight." Dark WEAPON opened it's mouth and fired a black mako beam at Sephiroth. Sephiroth dodged the blast and morphed his hand into a laser then shot a fierce beam at Dark WEAPON's leg. Just then the Highwind flew into the scene when Dark WEAPON did 'Meteor Shower', one of it's special moves, on Sephiroth. "Watch out!" Cid yelled bracing himself. "We're in for some turbulence." The Highwind shook around till the attack was done and took little damage. "So who are we trying to stop?" Heather asked. "WEAPON or Sephiroth?" Cloud shrugged his shoulders. "Umm..." Cid said getting ahold of the Highwind. "I don't know." All of a sudden a brilliant flash covered the sky and a creature flew up to Dark WEAPON and struck it with some sort of tri-elemental attack. "What is it?" asked Nanaki. "It feels familiar," Vincent said looking at the creature. "Like it's a part of me somewhat." "Me too," Cloud said gripping his head. Sephiroth, hurt badly from WEAPON's attack, got up slowly and saw the creature fighting Dark WEAPON. The creature drew out a tentacle and struck Dark WEAPON with an icy hit. Dark WEAPON flew back from the hit when Sephiroth flew up to the creature to talk. "Hey, I saw yo-" Sephiroth started but instead got struck down by one of the creatures tentacle. "Go away," the creature said calmly. "This is between me, the planet, and WEAPON." Dark WEAPON shot a black beam at the creature and hit it dead on, but the creature just absorbed the blast, gathered the energy, and shot it back at Dark WEAPON with twice as much power. "Cid!" Cloud yelled. "Hit Dark WEAPON with an Ultima blast!" Cid pressed the green button knowing that 'Ultima' was still in the slot. The cannon at the front of the Highwind glowed pale greenish and gathered energy. The creature heard the humming and ducked below the line of fire and started towards Sephiroth. The cannon gathered up energy to it's full extent and fired such a huge powerful blast of Ultima mako energy that the Highwind flew back about four thousand feet. The blast went straight into the side of Dark WEAPON and shocked it to death. The creature flew down and pushed Sephiroth to the ground forcefully. The creature stood over him looking at him carefully. The creature's flesh seemed discolored, it had a human arm and a tentacle that could morph into other things, its face looked almost like Jenova's, and it seemed like it was over six feet tall. "I am Avonej," it said. "I'm the Jenova-human hybrid that defeated you before and now I will finish you." "I don't remember you," Sephiroth said trying to get up. "Wait, you seem different," Avonej said closely observing him. "You're artificial, not really the real Sephiroth." Just then Dark WEAPON raised it's head and did 'Black Meteor Flare' on Sephiroth and Avonej. Everything turned pure white and an explosion of black heat and meteorites trampled on the two in the field. Dark WEAPON lowered it's head and a small piece of it fell off onto the ground, the 'Black Materia'. Sephiroth lay on the ground while Avonej got up and walk over to the Highwind that was just landing. Cloud got out and greeted Avonej, "Hi," Cloud said shaking his hand. "I'm Cloud." "I'm Avonej and my appearances are like this because I'm a Jenova-human hybrid." "Interesting..." Nanaki said. "An actual crossing of a human and Jenova! I've never heard of it." While the group was getting better acquainted with Avonej and trying to get him to join them, Yuffie walked off to the broken piece of Dark WEAPON. "Ooo," she said with delight. "The 'Black Materia', could prove useful in a sticky situation." She looked at Dark WEAPON and shuddered when Cait Sith called to her. "Hey Yuffie!" the cat said as she jumped. "What're you doing?" "Umm.." she started. "I'm...checking to see if this big hunk of junk was still working." "Ok," Cait Sith said not believing her. "Well come on over to meet Avonej .He's a Jenova-human hybrid." "Wow!" she started with actual enthusiasm. "That sounds cool, let me look." The pair went off to see Avonej while a little tracking device went of inside of Dark WEAPON. Sephiroth, still on the ground from all the hits he's taken, stumbled up weakly and severely hurt. "That's the last time I try to talk to some alien thing," Sephiroth said pathetically. "But at least that WEAPON is dead for me to get the 'Black Materia'." Sephiroth walked over to the body of Dark WEAPON and looked at it. Then he saw a little indentation in the middle of its head where he knew that the 'Black Materia' was. Seeing that it wasn't there just made him even madder and walked around the beast to wait for nightfall, to take the materia. Jade and Opal WEAPON heard the tracking device and started for the little island. They knew hat Dark WEAPON had died and were going to search for the cause. They soared above Case as he sat on the beach in the middle of the night. He was still walking along the green road in the Lifestream when he was interrupted by WEAPON flying overhead. His eyes opened and his energy was torn out of the Lifestream. "Whoa..." he said spaced. "That had to have been a dream." Then he looked down on the ground and saw the glowing pouch of Aeris' Spirit Energy and picked it up. He knew then that it wasn't a dream at all and knew that he needed to get to the Shinra tower. He got up and went to get a chocobo at Cid's stable in Rocket Town. He walked through Nibelheim onto Rocket Town fighting monsters, that would occasionally pop up, and getting the money and experience. He fought this one creature that he'd never seen before and when he killed it his 'Light Materia' gained a level. "Alright! I can't wait to test it out." It was still the middle of the night and everyone in Rocket Town was asleep. Case walked up to Cid's house and banged on the door. "Yes...yes.." Shera said a bit grumpy. "Want do you want?" "I need to use a chocobo," Case replied. "Oh Case!" Shera exclaimed. "I didn't realize it was you, and why do you need a chocobo?" "I need to get to Midgar." Shera got out and walked to the stable to give Case the chocobo. "Here you go," she told him. "Just press the button on his collar to send him back here." "Sure." "He'll be back within the morning." Case hopped on the chocobo and rode off to the east to go back to Midgar for the second time. Sephiroth walked from the dead Dark WEAPON to the camp where the group had stayed for the night. He had remembered that Yuffie was a materia freak and knew that she would die to get her hands on any destruction materia, and he would make her die. He carefully walked over to the camp quietly in order not to get his ass kick by all of them. He saw Yuffie and knew she had it but didn't know where because it was to big to fit on any belt or weapon so he checked her backpack. Sure enough...it was......gone! Puzzled, Sephiroth looked around, then with his eyepiece he saw a dark glimmering in her pillow. With his biomech. hand he pushed the 'Black Materia' out of the pillow, and he split his hand so that a piece of it was there to take care of them some other time. He picked up the 'Black Materia' and pocketed it, then he walked out of the camp and took off into the midnight sky.
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Chapter 13
'Holy Materia'
"Where is it?!" Yuffie yelled looking under her pillow. "I had it last night and now it's gone!!" "What's gone?" Cid asked lighting a cigarette from the ashes of the fire. "Uh...nothing," Yuffie replied obviously guilty. "Spill it girl!" Barret yelled getting tired of her games. "What are you missing?" demanded Cloud. "The...'Black Materia'..." Yuffie quietly replied. "I saw it fall from Dark WEAPON and drop to the ground. So I decided to pick it up and, maybe, use it to my advantage." "And now it's gone," Vincent said and Yuffie nodded. "Damn!" Barret yelled kicking dirt on the ashes of the fire. "An' that means that only Sephiroth could have it, seein' as he was the only other person close to us." Cloud stood up and stared into the sky wondering what Sephiroth would do now. "We need to get the other materia," Avonej said walking over to Cloud. "And not worry about the two you'v- we've lost to Sephiroth." "The freak's right!" Cid said taking a puff. "I'm not a freak," Avonej said sternly. "Yeah..ok...anyway we've got to know where to find those other two pieces before Sephiroth does." Cid continued. "OH SHIT!" Cloud suddenly yelled. "We've got to get to Case!" He darted for the Highwind and signaled everyone to follow him. The party just stood there for a while, then without question they all followed Cloud into the Highwind and took off. Case still rode, on his way to Midgar, while he thought about what he would do when all of this was over. He finally came to the conclusion that he would marry Katlyn, settle down, and raise a family. Of course he didn't think about what he would do for a living or how the children would be able to live knowing that they were part Cetra. It all didn't matter anyway because all that mattered now was trying to get Aeris' blood if Shinra still had it, considering that it wasn't blown up when WEAPON first attacked. He kept riding on during the day until he reached his final destination, Midgar. In the daylight Midgar looked like a much friendlier place than it did in the night. Case rode up to the post where the previous chocobos have been kept and saw that they were gone. He had figured that the chocobos knew that their riders wouldn't be returning and so they took themselves back to Cid's. Plus the collars tracers on them had been activated to let them know to go back home. Case got off the chocobo, and pushed a button on the collar that said 'Home' on it. The chocobo "warked" and ran off towards Rocket Town while Case walked into Midgar to face his destiny. Sephiroth flew over the ground searching for Case and the 'Holy materia'. "Damnit," he cursed. "How hard could it be to find one Cetra and a stupid destruction materia?" As he started to go over the water he stopped and saw a white figure swimming underneath. It flowed as gently through the water as a school of fish or a dolphin. Sephiroth looked again and zoomed in with his eyepiece and saw that the thing wasn't white but more like white with shades of different colors. He knew then what it was and didn't even bother to tangle with it because he knew that he'd die. He decided not to bother with it and continue his search for Case, which right now seemed hopeless. The gate to sector 7 was still shut tight and no key was present. "Damn! I forgot to get the key that Cloud had," Case said looking at the key slot. He looked all around and saw the road above him curving with the gate and go into the city. The sky started to turn cloudy and dark so Case thought he should get inside somehow and then he remembered his rope. He pulled out his sword, tied the rope around the hilt, grabbed the end of the rope, and tossed the sword as hard as he could so it would stick into the road above. His sword flew up and stuck right into the cement above, firmly. "Well...I can't climb all the way up, not without falling at least." He sat down and thought for a while and then decided that he'd climb up high enough to swing over the gate into Midgar. He got up, jumped onto the rope, and started to climb up feeling the sword give a little. When he was pretty clear of the gate he started swinging back and forth until he was well over the gate. When he was about to jump his sword came loose letting him fall right on his back, but in Midgar at least. If that wasn't the worst of his problems he looked up and saw his sword coming down right for him. He rolled away on the ground quickly and jumped away not even thinking of his hurt back. The sword stuck straight into the ground standing up like someone had thrust it down. "Whew!" He got up and started to pant when he realized his back was hurting, he fell down to the ground in pain and fell asleep. "Hey!" a voice said. "You finally coming to? Good he's still asleep. Hey, you guys, come look!" "Wow!", another voice said. "Where'd you find him?" "By the gate." Case finally decided to open his eyes and saw little kids above him and when they saw him open his eyes they screamed and ran away. "Wait!" Case said sitting up. "Ow!...my back...I'm not dead, just hurt." Case got up and looked around to see which part of Midgar he'd been taken to, but then found out that it was the old church in the sector 5 slums. He just now realized why the ground felt so cushy and it was because he was lying on the flowerbed. He quickly jumped to his feet and started walking towards the door but something stopped him, pain. He sat down in one of the pews and reached into his pocket to get a Potion out he had gotten a while back. He drank it down and started to feel better, not a whole lot, but good enough to walk. "That really hit the spot. Now, off to see Shinra." "Goddamn fucking weather!" Cid cursed as the rain batted down on the window. "We can't worry about the weather," Cloud said staring out the window. "I'm more worried about Case and Sephiroth looking for him." "Eh..." Barret said. "That kid's tough. I mean he worked on a construction crew for me. How much tougher can ya get?" "Well..." Tifa said. "With the way you work people, I'm surprised he's still alive." Barret gave her a childish look and went back to what he was doing before. "I can't help thinking about what Sephiroth's doing right now, flying in the storm," Vincent said chuckling to himself and thinking about lightening striking Sephiroth. The others laughed a bit too except Cloud who just sat there and stared out the window. "Are you worried about him too?" Katlyn asked sitting down by Cloud. "Yeah..I mean, he buckled under when Sephiroth had the 'Krypt Materia' and then he just left to "find himself" and now Sephiroth's after him." "I know Case. He will find a way to beat Sephiroth, I'm sure of it." "I just hope so. Plus, we don't know where he is. So he'll have to be on his own for a while till we can get a lead." Sephiroth flew in the storm despite the bad conditions that were growing. "If I were a Cetra," he asked himself. "Where would I be?" Sephiroth finally thought that he should sit down and rest so that he doesn't get struck by lightening or anything else. Then he saw Midgar, luminous in it's field of darkness, a bold man-made obstruction upon the planet. "I think I'll rest there." Case ran in the rain trying to find a place to rest that would actually let him in. He walked through the sector 5 slums to a remote part of the town. In it, there was a big house with probably thousands of flowers in the gardens behind the house. Case stood there and looked at the flowers for a bit, then went into the house. From the looks of things the house looked like it hadn't been lived in for a couple of years so he decided to make himself at home. At that time Sephiroth was landing down at the construction site of the new sector 7 slums when a strange feeling came over him. "Hmm...I feel a presence here in Midgar...... it's him!" Sephiroth got up and started to run for sector 5, killing any monsters that got in his way. He finally made his way through the debry of the connecting sectors and then found himself outside of the sector 5 slums. The rain batted down upon him, soaking him completely but also giving him a grim look of evilness. The water landed all over him as he walked into the slums, with nobody outside. The only person that was out was a young man sitting in a chair watching the rain pour down. "Eh?" the man said in a raspy voice. "Ya gettin' cold out there or what? Heh heh heh!" Sephiroth walked over to him, grabbed his collar, and lifted him out of his chair. "Have you seen a man walking through here?" Sephiroth demanded. "Well, I seen many a men walk through this crummy ol' place so ya have ta be more specific," the man replied. "Then let me be more specific for you," Sephiroth said drawing out his sword and putting it to the man's neck. "He's in his twenties, about six-foot, wears jeans and a long heavy jacket, has long brown hair with a bandana on his forehead, and has a short sword with two glowing materia in it." "Oh yeah, that guy!" the man responded quickly. "I seen him, he went that'away." The man pointed to the left as Sephiroth dropped him and walked over to the one house with the big flower garden in the back. "Finally Case!" Sephiroth said fiendishly. "I've got you where I want you. At a DEAD end." "Damn!" Cloud said waking up. Heather ran inside his room to comfort him. "What's wrong? What happened?" she asked Cloud. "I...had a dream. I know where Case is," Cloud said sweating. "What? Really? Where!?" Heather asked frantically. "Whoa whoa whoa, slow down," Cloud told her. "We need to get to Midgar." Cloud and Heather ran to the bridge and told Cid to get to Midgar. "Why should I rush around fer' you?" Cid asked angrily. "Because dumbass, Case's life is on the line here. Sephiroth has almost found hi- no, make that Sephiroth has found him!" Cloud yelled at him. "Ok, ok boss," Cid replied, surprised in Cloud's tone. "Next stop, Midgar!". The Highwind sped off to Midgar with the crew inside hoping to save Case. Katlyn, disturbed by the sudden change of speed, came in to the front to ask about what was happening. "What's going on?" Katlyn asked confused. "What's with the sudden rush of speed?" "We're going to Midgar," Nanaki told her. "Huh? Why?" she continued. "Because Case is in trouble," he replied. Katlyn quickly ran over to Cloud, "Is Case okay?" she asked him. "I don't know because this is just based on a dream but I think that Sephiroth has found Case and I don't know what'll happen then," Cloud told her, worried. She didn't say anything but instead just sat down beside the window as the Highwind flew over Midgar. "I'm surprised ya even saw Midgar Cid," Barret said astonished. "Oh-uh yeah, I guess I'm just too good of a pilot," Cid boasted obviously lost. Cid landed the Highwind as fast as he could and Cloud, Katlyn, and Barret jumped out and went into Midgar. Vincent got out and patrolled the surface to make sure Sephiroth didn't get an easy escape. "If anything," Katlyn informed them. "Case's probably in the sector 5 slums." "We know the way," Cloud said opening the gate. "When then let's get goin'," Barret said as they ran into sector 5. Case was peacefully asleep in one of the upstairs bedrooms when he just woke up for no reason. "That was weird," Case said shrugging his shoulders and laying down again. Then he heard a creak in the floor and Sephiroth chuckling so he decided to play along. Sephiroth opened the door and saw Case lying asleep on the bed and drew out his sword. "Nighty night Case," Sephiroth said raising his sword in rage. Then he felt a sharp pain in his gut and felt the flow of blood down his legs. Sephiroth then fell to the floor and curled up while a dagger stuck out of his stomach. Case sat up in the bed watching Sephiroth bleeding on the floor, "Didn't think I had it in me did ya?" Case said to him. "As a matter of fact," Sephiroth said pulling the dagger out of himself and getting up. "I expected that from you." He threw the dagger on the floor, morph his hand into five separate pieces, and tossed them at Case. The pieces morphed into bands and quickly tied Case up. "Now...It's time to slice and dice." Sephiroth raised up his sword and was about to slash it on Case when his sword was blasted out of his hands. Barret's gun barrel was smoking as Cloud popped into the picture. "DAMNIT, LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!! I'm tired of you mother fucking sons-of-bitches getting in my goddamn way to take over the planet!!!" "You know..." Cloud said scratching his chin. "I think I liked you better without a real personality than with one." "Oh!" Sephiroth exclaimed. "So now Cloud's getting a sense of humor. Ha ha ha, well see how funny you think this is." Sephiroth rushed to Cloud, with this jet thrusters, grabbed him and slammed him up against the wall, rendering him unconscious. Then he spun around, morphed his hand into five lasers and shot Barret down the stairs. Katlyn was downstairs at the time looking at a portrait of Aeris when Barret tumbled down the stairs. She got out her pole and ran upstairs as she saw Sephiroth about to cut Case in half when that vision got her mad. "Field of Protection!" Katlyn yelled as she did her limit break. A yellow glowing covered Katlyn, Case, Cloud, and Barret keeping them from harm. Sephiroth struck down hard on Case but had no effect on the force field. Then Katlyn did her other limit break on Sephiroth called 'Flaming Fury'. She started to focus energy into her staff that burst into flames. Then she just went haywire on Sephiroth and hit him at least twenty times doing all these different types of moves with her staff, making one flowing motion. The very last hit was in his gut, pushing Sephiroth out a window. Sephiroth flew down the side of the house and landed in the water below. The 'Field of Protection' started losing it's effect and then disappeared into thin air. Barret and Cloud got up and walked to the room. "Hey, Barret," Case said struggling in the bands. "Get me out of these things will ya?" Barret charged up his hand-laser and cut the bands holding Case. Just then Sephiroth flew up to the window holding a green materia in his hand. "Look at what I've got," Sephiroth taunted them. Case looked at his sword and saw that the 'Holy Materia' was missing. "Well, now that you know, I'll be on my way." Nobody said a word until they got outside of the house. "I can't belie-" Case started. "Don't talk," Cloud said coldly. "Let's just get to the Highwind." The four of them walked outside of the sector 5 slums and stopped again. "I need to stay here for a while," Case said stopped behind the gate. "Again!?" Barret asked. "Yeah...it's, a personal matter," Case told them. "Fine," Cloud said not looking back. "I just hope you find you're way back to the group." Case nodded as the small group started walking away when Katlyn turned around and ran up to Case. "Stay out of trouble," she told him. "I love you and...take care of yourself." "I love you too," Case said, hugging her. "You take care too." She turned around and ran up to Cloud and Barret as they walked out of Midgar to the Highwind. Case then turned around, looked at the Shinra tower, and started walking towards it as the rain battered down on him and everything else.
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Chapter 14
'Pearl Materia'
Case walked along the slums as he looked at his sword with the missing materia in the slot. He cursed to himself about what had happened at the house on his way up to the Shinra tower. Monsters came to up him, he killed them with no feeling what-so-ever, didn't even pick up the gil, and walked to the train station. He got on the train to the upper plate where he could get to the tower. The train ran on through the tunnel where the security system was and was almost to the upper plate. Reeve had taken out the old security ID system on the train with a device to count the number of people on board. He wanted the citizens of Midgar to feel like they weren't in a prison, but then also kept a tight security watch over the people to make sure of no terrorists. The new system made all the people in Midgar feel at ease and not under a stressful system. He had also noticed, that even though Shinra has been trying to keep the monster encounter rate down, the monsters have been increasing rapidly. He got off the train onto the station and started to the tower. He noticed now that the upper plate had been going down in class, like the slums almost. He ignored most of the people that tried to get him to donate to charities and other organizations including AVALANCHE. AVALANCHE had turned into a giving organization that, instead of destroying Shinra, worked with Shinra to create a mako reactor that would fully recycle mako energy back into the planet so the planet wouldn't die. The prototype was called MR.1 which stood for Mako Recycler No. 1, and it was a good idea with the exception that it occasionally gave off radiation which ended up poisoning the land. This was the first of many prototype reactors that ended up being twenty-seven, when the MR.28 turned up being the best made reactor yet. There was only one slight problem with this one, and that was that it used mako energy to recycle it and that meant that it used up more mako than it produced. This "bug" was fixed with the MR.29, which was first built at the site of the new Corel, by doubling the produced energy so it could recycle mako and put it back into the planet. With this new mako reactor, Midgar had turned into a flourishing community but the decline in class was unexplainable. Case made his way through the winding underground tunnels up to the base of Shinra's base of operations. He didn't know what to expect from the security so he decided to take the stairs...bad mistake. One new improvement that Reeve made on the tower is that he had put a security system in the staircase do to people thinking that Shinra was still evil and out to control the planet like REBELION. Case made his way up the stairs about to the twentieth when a camera spotted him and rang out an alarm. A red light started to flash and a loud beeping came from the camera. "WARNING...WARNING!" it said. "Identify your personnel and state you ID number." Case didn't want to mess with it so he threw a dagger into it. The small camera exploded and after that three small laser cannons morphed out of the wall and charged up to fire on Case. As they charged Case cast 'Light 2' on them and two rays of light came from above and shot down on all the cannons, destroying them. Case walked on pass the debris up to the sixtieth floor with every tenth floor having the same defenses. Case blasted his way through each floor leaving ashes behind and a stench of burnt plastic. When he finally got to the sixtieth floor no camera came out shouting warning warning, but instead five laser turrets appeared out of the walls. Case did his limit break called 'Shock Field'. He pulled out six daggers, threw two of them into the ground, two right above them, and two more out to the side. The daggers charged up energy and pulsed out a "wall" of electricity, and then Case pointed out to the turrets and the daggers started to move toward them. Then the field blasted right past the turrets, shorting them out and then destroying them. More ashes and the smell of burnt plastic filled the air as Case walked into the door to the sixtieth floor. Sephiroth was flying on his way out of Midgar when Vincent suddenly spotted him on a sweep of the area. "Heh heh heh..." Vincent chuckled cruelly. "Ready...aim.........fire." Then Vincent pulled the trigger multiple times in Sephiroth's direction. Sephiroth was too late to notice that there were shots coming toward him. The first couple of hits were dead on target, then some of them missed, and the last couple scratched Sephiroth's surface. Then Vincent brought out a new weapon he had been testing while on the road; a rocket launcher attachment for any gun. Vincent put it at the end of the barrel and twisted it on tight. Then he reached in his little duffel bag, pulled out a small air missile, and locked onto the attachment. He pushed a small red button and a scope rose up out along the side of the barrel. Vincent looked through, locked on Sephiroth's figure, and fire the missile. Sephiroth saw this through his eyepiece and off started in the opposite direction shooting at it with his hand laser. The missile kept on dogging all the shots that Sephiroth fired at it and blasted forward to Sephiroth and the kill. Then Sephiroth stopped and morphed his hand into a energy field generator that put a protective shield around him. The missile flew straight into the protective shield that Sephiroth had produced and gave of a powerful explosion. Sephiroth was thrown back from the impact of the explosion and didn't bother to mess with Vincent. His mind was on more important matters like the collection of the final destruction materia. Sephiroth flew out of Vincent's sight, even through the scope. Cloud, Barret, and Katlyn walked out of Midgar towards the Highwind with a blank stare of sadness on their faces. Cid saw them coming out and started up the Highwind to pick up it's oncoming passengers. Tifa dropped down a ladder so the four on the ground. Vincent detached the rocket launcher from his gun and walked over to the ladder. The Highwind stopped about ten yards away from the three walking away from Midgar. Vincent stayed at the ladder to meet them, "Let me guess," he said looking at Cloud. "Sephiroth got the 'Holy Materia' didn't he?" Cloud pushed Vincent out of his way and started up the ladder. "What's you're fu-" "Case went off on his own again," Barret said shaking his head. "An' we don't even know if he'll be comin' back. What happened in there was intense, and don't need ta be talked 'bout." Barret followed Cloud up the ladder and Katlyn soon followed after them both. Vincent watched them go up the ladder and then started up himself when he just realized something. "Tears?" he said then walked up the ladder. Cloud busted onto the bridge, "We're having a meeting!" he demanded. Nobody asked questions and just went inside the conference room. When everyone was in Cloud slammed the door shut, "Is this everyone?" he asked. "Yeah.." everyone responded. "Did you put the Highwind on autopilot Cid?" Cloud asked him. "Yeah, I remembered to put it on." "Good..." Cloud said turning his back to them. "Now...guys.. we've gotta pull through for each other. I can't do this anymore... I've gotten rusty, he could take control of me again, and I...I....I couldn't stop him today. Case is gone again, and I have no fucking clue to why he keeps going away. All I know is that he was a great help to this team. I used to be too, but that was before I realized that I was hurting us. The best to do is just me leave and you guys can stop Sephiroth on your own. I've got nothing more to say. Cid, could you drop me off at Kalm?" "I gue-" "Shut up you spiky ass punk!!" Barret interrupted hitting the table. "Ya gotta realize that you're the soul of this group right here! I'm not sure 'bout the new guys, but they don't know ya like I do. Damnit Cloud, you're doin' the same thing like ya did two years ago! Ya think you're no good when in real life you're doin' all you can to keep goin'!......But if ya think you're no good anymore....well then I ain't stoppin' ya cause it'll finally be the last time that you'll desert your friends. I sure as hell won't miss ya no more. Jus' remember, there ain't no gettin' offa this train we're on." The entire room was silent for at least five minutes or so until Nanaki spoke up. "You have to know Cloud, we were thinking about giving up hope last time, but then we found you and Tifa helped you recover. Now this apocalypse threatens not only this planet but many others that might have civilizations on them. You haven't grown weak, you're as strong as ever. You have new friends to help us in the fight against this ultimate evil. Get over this thing that pulls you back." "Ok Nanaki.", Cloud said after thinking about a minute. "Barret...thanks for yelling at me and kinda settin' my mind straight. I don't know if Sephiroth or Jenova might be doing this to me, but I do know I will go on with you guys. Avonej, I'd like to talk with you alone." Avonej agreed, and then Cloud and Avonej walked into a back room while everyone left. "What did you want to talk to me about?" Avonej asked sitting on the table. "How do ya do it?" Cloud asked while Avonej looked at him puzzled. "How are you not under Jenova's control?" "I am my own being," Avonej answered him. "I don't let my "mother" or anyone else have control over me. I have a will for my own and no one can take it away. I am not like Sephiroth because he was injected with Jenova cells in his mother's womb. Nor am I like you, being injected with Jenova cells as an experiment. I am the actual breeding of Jenova and a human, an actual creature of my own. That is why I'm not under the control of Jenova. I live my life, being hunted down by the planet till I die. That is why I came with you in the first place, so the planet will know I'm not a threat but an aid. But you, my friend, I cannot help. You must find the answer on your own." Avonej walked out of the room leaving Cloud there to think. "Will he be okay?" Tifa asked concerned. "Just let him think," Avonej said. Tifa walked past Avonej who went out of the conference room to the front of the room that Cloud was still in. "Knock knock," she said knocking on the doorframe. "What is it Tifa?" "Is that anyway to talk to your childhood friend? I don't think so." "Sorry Tifa, but what did you want?" "It's funny isn't it. I mean it's like a cycle. We go after Sephiroth. He hurts or kills some one dear to us. He tries to destroy the planet. And you, Cloud, then you say "I can't go on." It, it gets frustrating." "Tifa..." "I mean, you've quit almost everything. I've...but I've never quit for you. I wanted "it" to work but you quit." "Tifa, we all went our separate ways, this isn't like you. Besides if you'd have asked I would've gone with you." "But that's just it! I didn't ask...I just saw you leave and could never follow you 'cause of MY fears. I'm afraid to commit to you and I don't know what you think. I didn't even realize if YOU had the same feelings. I was scared that if, Aeris came back you'd drift away to her or something like that. I...didn't want to hold you back from your true feelings. She even made you smile..." "Aeris? Is this all because you were afraid of Aeris? Tifa, I know you have feelings for me, but I don't know much about Aeris. All that's important is here and now. Yes, I have looked into research about maybe bringing her back but I haven't been able to find anything. Just now that I'll always be there for you. Your hero, remember?" She looked at him with tears in her eyes and ran to him. He caught her and held her tight like she always wanted him to. He did have feelings for her but was afraid of himself as well. "I'm sorry Cloud," she said almost sobbing into his chest. "No, don't be. Just be the Tifa I know. The one that took care of me when I was in a wheelchair, that Tifa Lockheart." "You're right." She let go of him and started out. "I have to be strong, and not let this get to me." "Hey Tifa." She stopped to look at Cloud. "Let's have a night alone, to ourselves." She didn't say anything and smiled. She walked outside the room and leaned against the room when she heard Cloud talking to himself. "Why can't I get that hurting feeling out of my head," he said. "I feel like just splitting my head open. I must stay with the team, to help them and get rid of this thing once and for all. To help them, they need me. Tifa outta most of them, I need to stay especially for her sake." Tifa then heard Cloud walking out of the room so she hid behind the door, not to be seen spying on Cloud. Cloud walked out of the conference room and to the bridge. "Thank you Cloud," Tifa said with a smile as a tear rolled down her cheek. Case watched carefully for the guards and overheard two of them talking. "Did ya hear?" said the first guard. "About the stairwell break in? Yeah," replied the second guard. "I checked it out and nothing was there 'cept ruins." "Oh well," the first guard continued. "Just keep a good watchout for the person or people breaking in." The guards turned and walked away while Case run swiftly across the lobby. He stopped by one of the statues and waited for another guard to turn around. When the guard did, Case ran as fast as he could to the stairwell leading to the laboratory level. "Huff.....puff...and..only level...sixty-five," Case wheezed out. "Just two more floors." All of the doors had been opened to let people roam free because of the tightened security on the outside. Case finished walking up the two stairwells he had left to floor sixty-seven and started to sneak around. He found a computer that had been left on and in the "Laboratory Find" category. Case walked up to it and typed in "Blood Storage". The computer beeped and show a highlighted area that that storage was and a yellow lined trail leading from the computer to the room. Then another screen popped up saying "Who's blood do you want to check?" "Oh crap..I never heard or got her last name, but there should only be one Aeris." He typed in "Aeris" and pushed enter. After waiting for the computer to search it's records it finally came up with one name, Aeris Gainsborough. The computer showed that her blood was there and in compartment G-6. Case turned off the computer and then went along the trail that the computer had shown him, making sure that he wasn't seen. The times that he was seen he used his 'Light Materia' to slightly blind the people so they wouldn't be able to see him. Case finally got to the room after winding down what seemed to be endless halls. "Blood Storage. Warning: Cold room, SHIT! I'm going to have to keep her blood preserved." Then he walked into the room and to the side where there was some blood transport suitcases with freezing unit on them to keep the blood cold. Case felt stupid and picked one up then went looking for compartment G-6. He went over to the G section and started searching for file number six. He looked through hundreds of names before he finally came across Aeris' tube with the blood inside. Case touched it carefully to get his fingers used to the cold. Then he opened the storage container so the blood wouldn't get the slightest bit warm. He started to get cold and he looked over the controls so he would be able to turn on the freezing system. After playing with the controls a bit, he finally figured out how to start the system and was ready to transport the blood. He reached in the file, pull out the blood carefully, set it gently in one of the holders, closed the suitcase gently, turned on the coolant system, and closed the file to not let anyone know he was there. He shut the door to the cold room and was off to find Prof. Edin to get him to restore Aeris. He walked along and demanded to first person he saw. "Were is Prof. Edin?!" "He's...he's in t,the experiment room," the scientist said. Case let go of him and headed off to the experiment room in the direction the scientist said. "Something needs to be done about this old Jenova cell. It's all old and...destroyed," Edin said just as Case busted into the room with his sword ready. Case walked up to him and pushed him into the wall with his sword by his neck. "Listen up doc," Case said letting him down a bit. "In here I've got Aeris Gainsborough's blood, and I want you to make a clone of her just as you did Sephiroth or I kill you." "First off, I need my clone kit, second it takes about a week to do, and third my kit is in Nibelheim." "Well then. I guess we're going to Nibelheim." Then Case walked over to the elevator and "escorted" Prof. Edin out of the building. "How are we going to find Sephiroth?" asked Heather. "When we find Opal WEAPON, we'll find Sephiroth as well," Cloud told her. "How do ya know that Cloud?" Barret asked as puzzled as Heather was. "Well, you saw how Dark WEAPON had the 'Black materia' in it. I can only think that Opal WEAPON might have it imbedded in its body." "Good theory," Avonej complimented. Just then the PHS started to ring and Cid picked it up. "Hello this is the Highwind," Cid answered. "Cid? This is Case. Send the Highwind back to Midgar and take me to Nibelheim," Case said. "Wait Case!" Cloud said running to the PHS. "Why Nibelheim?" "Can't tell ya Cloud," Case told him. "It's a secret. Just do it and thank me later." "Ok, Cid let's go get him," Cloud said. "What I planned on doing." "Also," Case went on saying. "I can't be seen by anyone when I'm there. It's just get on, go to Nibelheim, and drop off. Got it?" "Got it Case," Cloud said hanging up. Cid turned the Highwind around to head for Midgar and had a ladder dropped for who they only thought was Case. "Are we almost there Cid?" "Uh Cloud, we are there, here whatever. We're at Midgar," Cid told Cloud. "Okay guys," Case said into the PHS over the intercom system. "I'm on, let's get to Nibelheim." They didn't ask anymore questions because they knew that they wouldn't get an answer, not even Katlyn. The Highwind flew soundly as Case, still holding Prof. Edin hostage, watched over the water below. "You better do this right. Or you better be more afraid of me than Sephiroth getting the last destruction materia." Edin didn't say anything back to Case; he thought this whole thing was stupid and wouldn't ever work, and he was already afraid of Case by that time. Nibelheim was in view from the bridge, and Case and Edin prepared for the drop off. The Highwind slowed down to a hover over Nibelheim while Case lowered the ladder to the ground. Case let Edin slide down first with the blood in the container while Case slid down keeping a close watch on Edin as they both went down. "We're down. Now go get Sephiroth." "Will do Case," Cid replied. Case stood outside of Nibelheim and waved the Highwind good-bye while holding onto Edin. Edin pulled away from Case and started walking into town. Case ran up to him. "What the hell do you think you're doin'?" "Well," Edin said not turning around. "You want...uh Aeris isn't it? Anyway, if you want her back as quickly as possible I need to get to work now." Case didn't reply to him because he knew that Edin had a reasonable point. Instead he followed Edin, carefully, to the Shinra mansion keeping the glowing pouch of Aeris' Spirit Energy close to him, and always watching the suitcase with her blood in it. Edin got to the front door and opened it with a loud creak. "Let me go in first," Case told Edin. "I'll kill the monsters and then you can go on without harm." "Please!" Edin practically laughed out. "Shinra had this place exterminated months ago. We are the only creatures in this forbidden place." Edin walked right past Case and up the stairs to the secret passage to the basement. Case followed right behind him remembering to keep his guard on because he knew Edin wouldn't agree to everything he told him to do. Case walked down the winding stairs, being careful not to fall, to the basement and lab of the mansion. "This way. Let's get started." "You've been awfully helpful," Case commented. "I'll pay you when you're finished with Aeris." "Thank you. Now let me pull out the cloning kit, defrost the blood, and we're set. Oh, but there's one thing." "What?" "I need some Spirit Energy, preferably hers, instead of Jenova cells to make her "active"." "Don't worry. I've got it under control." Case looked at the inside of his jacket and saw the green glow of Aeris' Spirit Energy as Edin got started. "That's right Cloud!" Reeve said through Cait Sith's transmitter. "I've got word that Opal WEAPON looks like it's about to attack the Gold Saucer from Dio himself!" "Sephiroth must be there too," Cloud said. "Cid! Get us to the Gold Saucer, and FAST!" "Damn!" Cid exclaimed grabbing the wheel. "Gold Saucer, here we come!" The Highwind took off to the Golden Saucer in a blur of chrome silver. The trip wasn't too long so the group was able to get there in time to see Sephiroth taking on Opal WEAPON. "Somehow we need to get Sephiroth and Opal WEAPON at the same time," Cloud said thinking quickly. "Avonej, you take Sephiroth out of the sky. Barret, Nanaki, and I will take him on the ground while the rest of you get Opal WEAPON. Cid you fly the Highwind and bombard Opal WEAPON and Sephiroth if you can but DON'T hit the Gold Saucer. Everybody got that?" "RIGHT!" everyone replied enthusiastically. "Good," Cloud said heading out. "Now let's kick some ass!" They all ran off the bridge, Avonej flew out the window, and Cid manned the attack team. Sephiroth was buzzing around Opal like a fly, annoying it to many extents. Opal did one of it's special moves on Sephiroth called 'Pearl Beam'. It locked onto Sephiroth and fired a pure white energy beam on him. Sephiroth blocked it by making a shield out of his right hand. "Ahh," he sighed regaining his balance. "Cloud and his little buddies are here to play. I just hope that the little piece of me is still with them." Just then Avonej flew in from the sky and did on of his limit breaks, 'Strike Whip'. He flung out his tentacle-like arm and lashed it upon Sephiroth who then fell from the sky to Barret, Nanaki, and Cloud, who were waiting for him. Sephiroth barely got up as he saw Yuffie run by with her backpack on. "Crusher...Come.." Yuffie stopped in her tracks as her bag started to move and grow. She threw it off and backed away. The little mechanical piece Sephiroth had cut off started to grow up to WEAPON's height. "Fuck..." Cloud said in despair. "Some of you take WEAPON and the rest take care of Crusher! Omnislash!" Cloud yelled before he went head-on in slashing Sephiroth down. Slash after slash cut Sephiroth till Cloud came above him and then down onto Sephiroth's already weak body. Then to top things off Barret did 'Catastrophe' on Sephiroth which nearly burnt him to a crisp. Barret came down from the air and started shooting at Crusher. Nanaki knew Sephiroth was beaten for now and went to fight Opal. Crusher mostly ignored the people fighting it and went on to fight with Opal WEAPON like it was programmed to do. Nanaki had saved up his limit for an occasion like this one and went out into the desert field and did 'Cosmo Memory' on the two unsuspecting giants. A burning red comet formed over Nanaki's head as it started to build and grow stronger. Then with a mighty howl the energy was forced out of the comet and sprayed upon the two giants, damaging them severely. Vincent, Barret, Heather, and Avonej opened fire on Crusher, damaging the wires and exoskeleton. Tifa, Yuffie, Nanaki, Cait Sith, and Katlyn were all attacking Opal WEAPON head on in combat. Tifa would take a couple of punches while Yuffie would throw a ninja star or two at the upper torso. Katlyn did a different limit break from the two she'd done earlier called 'Darkness Craze'. Her staff started glowing a light black, almost purple, and she began to do all sorts of Kung Fu moves with her staff hitting Opal almost twenty times. Cait Sith did 'Slots' and got the toy soldiers, little soldiers came out and fired on Opal WEAPON damaging mostly its legs. Opal WEAPON did 'Blinding Fury' on Crusher, another special move. Its chest opened up and a huge beam was gathering in the center. Opal then released the ray onto Crusher and the force of it was so powerful that the giant robot was pushed into the mountain side. Crusher jumped out of the impression that it made in the mountain and did 'Spinning Fists' on Opal. Its upper torso started to spin with its arms extended out and started to pound on Opal WEAPON. Opal tried to block the punches from the robot but got hit a lot anyway. Then it shot Crusher with some lasers that came out of it's shoulders. The blast stunned Crusher then Opal attacked with its entire artillery that vaporized the giant robot. Cloud had been sitting on a stone close by where Sephiroth had fallen from the hits he had taken earlier. "So the mighty Sephiroth is finally up," Cloud said smugly. "You seem a bit weaker now than you did before." "I can still control you," Sephiroth replied menacingly. "Is that so? Or is Jenova controlling you?" Cloud inquired. "Using you to get the four destruction materia so it can take over planets. Don't you see Sephiroth? It's the perfect plan. We're all puppets of Jenova, at least all of us that carry Jenova cells. That is our fate." "Yours, not mine," Sephiroth said as he anticipated the attack on Cloud. Sephiroth got his sword ready for the attack and leapt at Cloud quickly. Cloud was ready for his attack and slashed his sword down to stop Sephiroth quickly. Sephiroth's sword got stuck so he morphed his hand into a laser and started shooting at Cloud. Before any of the shot could get to Cloud, he cast 'Reflect' on himself to repel the shots. The lasers bounced off the shield like they were rubber and started flying in all different directions. "I don't have time to worry about you. I've got bigger fish to fry." Sephiroth grabbed his sword and flew directly towards Opal WEAPON. Sephiroth held out his right hand and formed it into a huge drill to plow straight through Opal. "Vincent, Barret stop him!" Cloud yelled. "We can't let Sephiroth get that materia!" Vincent and Barret both aimed at Sephiroth and unleashed out an array of bullets. Sephiroth molded out a piece of his hand and morphed it into a shield generator to deflect the oncoming bullet shower. The shield weakened greatly from the hundreds of bullets banging continuously on it. Sephiroth was about ten yards from Opal WEAPON when it realized that he was about to drill inside. Opal then pulsed out and energy field that blasted Sephiroth down to the ground. Everyone was now focused on Opal WEAPON and destroying it, to get the materia inside. By this time Opal was getting pretty annoyed by the constant bugging by Cloud and the rest. Opal knew that he was going to be defeated if he stayed here so it started to retreat back to the ocean. "Ohh no ya don't ya sneaky bastard," Cid said watching Opal turn away. "Ya ain't gettin' away that easy." Cid checked the materia slot to see if the 'Ultima Materia' was still in and ready to fire. He pushed a different button that made missiles and bombs ready to deploy. He took the Highwind into firing range and pushed the button again. The sudden noise startled Opal and he turned around just in time to see about a dozen missiles and bombs coming straight for him. An almost look of despair came across Opal's face as he prepared for the impact. The dozens of blasts knocked Opal to the ground and started taking off bits and pieces of his body. Then to top that all off Cid fired the Materia Cannon on Opal with 'Ultima' in the slot. The ray tore Opal apart and completely demolished him. A piece broke off of his head and fell towards the ground. Everyone knew that it was the 'Pearl Materia' so Avonej flew down and swooped it up before it even hit the ground. Sephiroth was furious in rage and took to the sky just waiting for another time to take the 'Pearl Materia' from them. Cid landed the Highwind gently and close so everyone wouldn't have far to walk to it. He climbed down to greet everyone, "So did we get it?" he asked anxiously. Avonej raised his hand to show everyone he'd gotten it, "You mean this little thing is what this grand battle was about?" "This "little thing" could mean the destruction of this planet if Sephiroth got his hands on it," Cloud said taking the materia from Avonej. "Damn Cloud," Barret said walking up to the Highwind. "Ain't we gonna get some R&R yet?" "Yeah," Cloud said after thinking a while. "Let's all rest up, we've deserved it. Then we need to find where Sephiroth's hiding, and get all the other destruction materia from him." Everyone agreed as long as they rested up before the search for Sephiroth. They all went into the Highwind except Cloud who stayed outside, looking towards Nibelheim. "What's the matter Cloud?", Tifa asked, concerned about him. "Nothing, I'm just wondering what Case's up to." "Well don't worry about it now. Let's go get some rest." Cloud didn't reply and they both turned around and climbed the ladder into the Highwind.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- End of part 3: The Four Destructions
Special thanx to: ¢ðß®å !!! =) Thanx to him it is able to read this story! lolz... no really thank you ¢ðß®å!