"Midgar Mayhem"   Sephiroth X  vs.  Bax   -   Location: Midgar

“Let’s go,” Bax said simply as he slammed the ball of fire into the sword, which instantly ignited into an intense flame. And the battle was on.

Sephiroth X looked at the flaming Star Fighter sword in wonder for a moment as the sword seemed to burn constantly with no fuel source.  But in that same moment of awe the sight of the flames themselves seemed to trigger X back into the memory of his dream and he once again focused on Bax.  Both fighters stood in battle poses and Zack Strife grabbed his sword and kept himself safely from the upcoming action.

Sephiroth X was quickly the aggressor as he swung the Masamune horizontally, but Bax quickly blocked it with the Star Fighter.  After the block Bax countered with a diagonal upwards slash to the right only to have Sephy X quickly block it in return. Then quickly in mirror images of each other both fighters swung their swords horizontally at eye level and the clashed fiercely mid-way sending sparks from the Masamune's blade and fire embers from the Star Fighters.  Both Bax and X quickly took a step back and returned to their battle poses, both stood motionless for a moment as if complimenting each other on the quick stalemate.

Both swordsmen then stepped forward and the swordfight continued.  Bax went for a leg-level sword swipe but X jumped the attack and in mid-air attacked Bax with a vertical downwards slash which was blocked by Bax.  Sephiroth X and Bax continued the attack and counter-attack routine for a few moments as Zack continued to look on, focusing on both fighter's styles and weaknesses. Suddenly from all the blurs of sword movements, Bax in an almost baseball style swing of the sword attacked Sephiroth X.  X managed to block the thunderous attack, but the force of the attack and the angle which it was blocked at causes X to stutter-step backwards a few feet leaving him unguarded to attack and also putting him out of attack range with the Masamune.  X regained his footing and prepared to jump into the fight again.  But just as he made ready to lunge at Bax, the Phoeniyan swung the Star Fighter causing a nice sized ember to come off the blade's flame.  Bax quickly extended his had and then the ember seemed to stop in mid-air and didn't lose its flame for any moment.  Then suddenly the ember's flame grew larger into the approximate size of a basketball right in front of Bax, and without hesitation Bax looked at X and the fireball shot directly at him nailing X in the chest causing him to fly backwards slamming into a brick wall and actually indenting himself an inch or two into the brick.

Bax thought to himself, That should slow him up pretty nicely... I didn't make the fireball powerful enough to kill... just to stun.

Sephiroth X after slamming into the brick went down to one knee on the ground.  He slowly looked up at Bax and slowly stood back up, the front portion of his clothing was slightly burnt from the fireball but nothing too bad what so ever.  Sephiroth X assumed from the lack of burns that Bax didn't intend to kill X. Sephy X within himself also felt he couldn't kill his adversary, at least not today, he just needed to stop the current source of his problems.

Then X looked at Bax and saw a somewhat.. stunned... look on his face.  Apparently Bax didn't expect X to stand up so quickly after the powerful attack.  Bax quickly swung his sword again, created another fireball from an ember and launched it at X.  But this time X anticipated the attack and as the fireball came closer to X, X slashed upwards and sliced the fireball in half sending both halves landing on the ground around him.  Sephiroth X quickly came back to his battle pose, never taking his eyes from Bax, and then X moved is sword slightly back and forth... in a "bring it" motion to Bax.

Bax saw the movement and understood its meaning, causing a slight from to come upon Bax's face.  Bax charged in and attacked X, and X blocked and countered every attack. Bax also countered every one of X's counters, causing another flurry of sword clashes to occur with every clash creating a small flash that lit the small area of the alley the occupied.  The dazzling sword display continued until Bax attempted a downwards slash at X which X quickly blocked.  And when X blocked the attack he pushed upwards with mighty strength so that Bax's chest would be exposed, and when he forced Bax's arms upward enough he quickly spun around and connected with a solid kick to the chest of Bax sending Bax flying towards the opposite wall of the alley.  Bax quickly got back up from the collision with the wall and the fiery look in his eyes intensified a little more.  Bax held the Star Fighter single handed in his right hand and charged at Sephiroth X.  He swung the Star Fighter at X and like he expected X blocked, and immediately following the block Bax's free left hand connected to the stomach of Sephiroth X.  X wheezed and gasped for the air that was knocked out of his body from the thunderous punch as he went down to both knees onto the ground.  Bax looked down at X and without hesitation Bax nailed X square in the chin with a rising knee attack.  The attack itself had a powerful amount of energy behind it, so much that it caused X to fly up twenty feet into the air.  Bax felt this was his chance to put this fight away and quickly ran towards one of the alley walls and spring boarded off of it upwards towards X, who was now beginning his decent back down.

Bax let out a battle cry as he prepared to lower his shoulder and drive it into Sephiroth X.  But just as Bax was about to reach X, X played possum then spun in mid-air and connected with a spinning roundhouse directly into Bax's jaw.  Bax quickly recovered and spring boarded off another wall and prepared to attack X again. Sephiroth X spring boarded off of the opposite wall and then both fighters met in mid air in a swords clash. The clash's force sent both fighters flying back towards the walls they just spring boarded off of, and both leaped again and swung blades again.  This time both fighters after the clash held their blades against each others as they began to descend back to the ground, Bax then quickly attempted a quick slash at X hoping to neutralize X before the ground impact.  X saw the blade's flame come at him and then in mid air managed to lean backwards slightly and barely dodge the blade though the could easily feel the heat coming from it.  And as Bax did his follow through X connected with a heavy rising knee knocking the wind out of Bax.  X immediately after the knee then raised his right elbow and connected with a powerful elbow smash to the back of Bax's head.  X noticed they were about to slam into the ground, so as impact was imminent X grabbed the semi-unconscious Bax and held in between himself and the ground.

Then smack! Both X and Bax slammed into the concrete ground of the alley sending a large cloud of dust up into the air around them.  A small half foot crater was left in the concrete where they landed. Sephiroth X, though slowly, was the first to reach his feet and Bax wasn't far behind.  Sephiroth X though had the sharper reaction time of the two, since Bax was still groggy from the elbow to the back of the head.  Neither fighter had time to grab their swords, so they had to resort to hand to hand combat.  Bax threw a desperation right hook at Sephiroth X deflected away with his left forearm.  Sephy X executed a sweep kick at Bax, which Bax cart wheeled over.  As Bax solidified his footing again he went for a right uppercut which Sephiroth X sidestepped to his left.  Bax followed through with the uppercut just as X sidestepped and within the sidestep motion Sephrioth X spun counterclockwise and connected with a spinning left kick to Bax's back sending Bax face first towards the ground.  As Bax fell and X executed his kick's proper follow through, X in the follow through motion grabbed the Masamune from the ground next to him and prepared to use it.  Then in one quick moment Bax hit the ground and quickly spun himself around and prepared to hop back up but just as he flipped over... the tip of the Masamune touched the side of Bax's neck as X stood above him ready to make the kill.  Both fighters froze in that position as the dust cloud finally settled around them.

Zack Strife couldn't see any of the combat that occurred within the small crater in the dust cloud, so seeing X seemingly victorious over Bax suddenly seemed quite amazing.  Neither Bax or Sephiroth X moved from their positions, it was only a few seconds they stayed still but it felt like an eternity for both. 

Then Sephiroth X finally spoke... "Your move...."

Bax saw the Star Fighter in his peripheral vision, but it was out of his reach. And Bax even knew that if X saw even a finger grasp that sword he would for sure be dead.  Bax didn't understand it... he never sensed this much power within Sephiroth X before... X was an amazingly greater fighter then Bax ever thought.

Meanwhile Sephiroth X tried not to show that he was extremely winded from the fight. Though he couldn't summon up all of the power within him, he used everything he had within him currently to take down Bax.  Sephiroth X was extremely amazed with Bax's art with the sword and use of the martial arts... hopefully Bax wouldn't stand in his way someday in the future.

After the silence, Bax managed to speak, "You... want answers.... I try give..."

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OOC: At this point the fight is over and Sephiroth X wins     ---     Now the ensuing storyline plays into effect.
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Just as Bax finished his words the roar of a helicopter thundered overhead and a single spotlight shinned down from the chopper directly on Zack, Bax, and Sephiroth X.  Then a second chopper was visible at the top of the buildings above the alley, and then a third larger chopper was visible... all with spotlights shining down.

Six rope ladders came down from the air above, two from each chopper.  And then armored soldiers holding large rifles slid down the ropes and began circling the three men.  Sephy X knew that this wasn't good so he sheathed his sword and charged at the soldiers as they footed themselves on the ground.  He kicked one soldier to the ground and punched down another.  Behind him Zack helped up Bax and handed him the Star Fighter, and just as he did numerous soldiers surrounded Zack and Bax with their rifles at the ready.

Sephiroth X continued to take down a few more of the soldiers but then the numbers became too much for him and as he took down one more soldier, the butt of a rifle slammed into the back of X's head sending him down on the ground on one knee.  The soldiers he took down staggered back up and along with some other soldiers they all surrounded Sephiroth X.

Meanwhile just as the soldiers surrounded Bax and Zack, Bax gripped the Star Fighter and his fiery sword lit back up again and he prepared to charge one of the mysterious soldiers. But just as he took a step towards one he felt some unbelievably fierce pain hit him from behind... it felt cold... like ice... Bax managed to turn his head a little ways and saw one of the soldier's rifles had a small blue flame coming from the barrel, and Bax saw a blue-liquid filled dart impaled into his back.

"Cold..." Bax thought, "But how...?" And just as he thought those thoughts the fiery glow of his hair dwindled away and whatever cold liquid that dart injected into Bax took effect.  Bax went down to both knee's struggling to stay conscious as he saw a small group of other soldiers handcuff and punch Zack.  Then Bax looked over at the large group surrounding Sephiroth X.

Sephiroth X was on one knee rubbing the back of his head as he looked around at the mysterious armored clad people.

"Who the hell are you guys..?" Sephiroth X angrily asked.

Then a voice darted in from a dark intersecting alley, "We my friend, are The Senate."

A dark blue robed man walked out from the shadows of the alley. As he got closer X noticed him more distinctively.  The blue robe was more of a kind of overcoat with gold trimming around it, the man himself walked very proudly with his arms crossed behind his back.  X noticed a nice sized katana at the mans side.  And as he slowly walked even closer he noticed that this man looked rather elderly, sporting a gray goatee with shoulder length white hair in a ponytail behind him.  He obviously was the leader of these guys, the soldiers parted and bowed before the man like he was some kind of god.  And when the man came about ten feet from Sephiroth X, who was still on one knee, he stopped.

Sephiroth X looked the man over once more, "And who in the blue hell are you..?"

The old man gave off a quick low chuckle then spoke again. X noticed he spoke with a slight accent in his speech,, "I, my friend, am The Senator."

X turned his head and spit out a small bit of blood from inside his mouth, "Well... that's original... the 'leader' of the Senate calls himself The Senator... But yeah... I know who the hell you are..."

The Senator looked past Sephiroth X and saw his soldiers securing Zack Strife and spoke once more, "Let the blonde one go... We tried to break him once and he didn't break... so lets not waste some more time with him...  But, give him a nice beating for slipping out of Zion in the first place please."  And with those words the group of soldiers dragged Zack towards the wall of a building and began punching at him and kicking him.  Sephiroth X saw this happen and a feeling of hatred began to build within him.  The Senator then looked at Bax who still struggled to stay conscious, the fire was obviously out of Bax. And as The Senator saw this he smirked and laughed briefly.

"I must thank you for bringing us to this man Sephiroth X, after the ship crashed we knew he stumbled here to Midgar... but we didn't have the 'power' to follow him once he got into the city." The Senator said.

Sephiroth X looked at him in confusion, "You followed me? Wait... how do you know my name?"

The Senator laughed, "We are The Senate my friend... we know everything. Though I will admit finding anything on you my friend was extremely difficult."

"How did you know I was following Bax?" X asked.

"Ahh... Bax is the aliens name is it?" The Senator noted, "Oh... your question... well some of our scout troops spotted the crashing ship and we reached it just after you slaughtered those drifters who attempted to kill you.  The original group of scouts followed you too Midgar and reported everything to the higher command. I sent a second group in to investigate, I even looked into it personally and we dug up information and even managed to view the last moments of the ship's security cameras.  That's how we found out what... Bax... looked like and discovered he's not one of this world.  So then I instructed my troops to continue following you looking for not only you, but the alien as well."

"Well... him being an alien... I can see why you'd want him... but why me?" X asked.

"You, my little X, are a very talented individual... you are going to help us find something." The Senator answered.

"Find what...?" X responded.

"The Element of Prosperity..."  The Senator slowly responded.

Sephiroth X laughed, "That's all just a legend... The Element of Prosperity, Valley of the Promised, that's all just a buncha folklore and bullshit... I thought even you Senate fools knew that."

The Senator smirked, "Well do you know the 'legend' of The Apprentice?"

X smirked back, "Yeah I do, so what."

"You know that the legend tells that The Apprentice became The Senator?" The Senator asked as he slowly gripped his katana.

"Yeah..." Sephiroth X noticed The Senator slowly gripping his sword.

"Well, here I am... a living legend... Now as I said X, you will help us." The Senator said.

"You're too damn old to be the man in the legend, and your too damn old to even stand a chance against me!" And with that Sephiroth X quickly pulled the Masamune from its sheath and lunged at The Senator.  But everything in that moment seemed to slow down for Bax, Sephiroth X, and everyone else as X saw The Senator quickly pull out his katana and easily sidestep Sephiroth X's attack in ungodly fast time.  And just as X would have attacked, The Senator was already standing at X's right side... and X felt a painful pierce hit him...

X heard The Senator whisper... "You really should believe in legends..."

The Senator's katana had pierced clear through Sephiroth X on the right side of the mid-section of his body.  The pain was still extremely unbearable but X knew the wound wasn't fatal.  The Senator quickly pulled out his katana from Sephiroth X, and the silver haired X collapsed to the ground in pain.  Bax was looking on the entire time and when he saw Sephiroth X easily fall, Bax let the cold feeling take over and finally slipped unconscious.

The Senator took a few steps past Sephiroth X and observed Bax and Zack and spoke out to his soldiers, "Take them... all of them." With those words the soldiers began putting restraints on both Bax and Sephiroth X.

One soldier asked though, "What about the blonde boy? Didn't you say we should leave him?"

The Senator laughed, "I changed my mind..."

Sephiroth X passed out from the pain of the wound while the soldiers were restraining him, and the soldiers then lifted him up and grabbed onto the rope ladder as it ascended back up to the helicopter.  The other groups of soldiers did similar things with Bax and Zack as both of them were lifted up into one other helicopter.  The Senator and one last soldier stood in the alley looking over the small carnage that occurred during the fight between Sephiroth X and Bax.

"These two are extremely powerful people aren't they." The Senator said.

"Yes they are." The soldier replied.  "But will they actually help us get The Element?"

An evil look slowly came to The Senator's face, "I simply will not be denied what should have been mine so long ago... and with it The Senate will be a truly unstoppable force and we will rule all we see."  The Senator looked up at the choppers and instructed his soldier to fly in the helicopter with Bax and Zack in it, "Tell the soldiers to take all three of them back to Zion and lock them up in the triple-max security section.  You can put the alien and the boy in once cell... but leave the silver haired one alone... we have lots of interrogating for him."

The Senator then grabbed onto the rope ladder that led up to the third and largest helicopter. And moments later all three of them left, for Zion.

"War in the Warehouse"   Pyramid Head  vs.  Prodigi   -   Location: Midgar

Prodigi looked at his new surroundings and almost wanted to gag.  He had never seen such a horrible, grotesque tapestry for as long as he could remember (which ironically still wasn’t all that long).  He continued trying to wrap his mind around these strange images while blocking out the smells, even as Pyramid Head approached him.

“Now, we play in my house.”

The resounding chuckle echoed off of all of the walls and the dead bodies in the stretchers seemed to rattle and moan in response.  It was chilling.  Prodigi’s recent memory attacks had hearkened something akin to panic attacks, but this was beyond insane.  Prodigi looked at Pyramid Head clutching his gigantic knife and confidently hovered a bit off of the ground.  There was a huge amount of height difference between the two, but that had never really deterred Prodigi before in situations like this.  He was ready.

In a flurry of red feathers, Prodigi propelled himself from his place above the ground directly at Pyramid Head and tucked his head behind his shoulder.  Pyramid Head raised his Great Knife to slice Prodigi in half, but was surprised at Prodigi’s speed.  He imagined that it would be a close race between who would hit who first, but Prodigi’s speed proved that there would be no contest.  Prodigi rammed shoulder first into Pyramid Head’s chest and the off-balanced Pyramid Head began sprawling backwards, still tightly gripping his Great Knife as it continued its powerful downward swing.  Pyramid Head was amazed that this mortal possessed such speed and determination – he seemed almost unaffected by the environment he had been transported to.  He was definitely different from others that Pyramid Head had killed in the past.  But he would still die just like the rest of them.

The Great Knife struck the floor, which nearly gave way beneath its great power as the over-sized rusty blade dug forcefully in.  Still, Prodigi sped Pyramid Head towards the opposite wall, where metal was twisting out in a demonic spike.  The pair began slowing down rapidly, however.  The sound of the metal scraping into and against the floor was deafening, and it filled the room with sounds akin to nails on a chalkboard.  It probably would have been unbearable to Prodigi had he not been so concentrated on slamming Pyramid Head into the wall.  He barely even noticed that they were slowing down until Pyramid Head’s feet jutted to the ground and gave off a rumbling turbulence.

A sickening squish resounded as the spike drove into Pyramid Head’s back and worked its way through directly over Prodigi’s head.  The final momentum of the contact with the spike finally caused the pair to stop moving completely and Prodigi’s feet finally touched the ground as he collapsed with his knees shaking.  He hadn’t been aware of how much shaking had been going on, and he could barely stop his bones and muscles from continuing to shake.  It was unnatural and he couldn’t help but fall where he was as he tried to rapidly recover.

As Prodigi collapsed to the ground before the freshly shish-kabobbed Pyramid Head, the latter lifted his Great Knife from it’s trench, swung it upwards and smacked Prodigi away with the flat side of the blade.  Prodigi’s neck snapped as his head led the rest of his shaking body rapidly away from Pyramid Head.  He was jilted out of his momentary rest and was now trying to figure out how he could land safely.  His eyes tried to focus on the crates and other things in this nightmarish room as he sped past them and his mind raced along even faster.  Closing his eyes, Prodigi began flipping himself in mid-air so that his feet would face the wall instead of his head, while at the same time bringing his hands together to create a large fireball.

Pyramid Head, on the other hand, lifted himself from the large and gruesome spike in the wall and felt his draping skin begin healing itself automatically.  It didn’t really hurt as much as give him a strange sensation.  In fact, it was almost pleasurable.  Pyramid Head looked up and saw Prodigi finally reach the wall and propel himself off of it.

“This again?" Pyramid Head thought with a certain element of disgust. “Can’t you try any other tricks?”

Pyramid Head slammed his Great Knife into the ground and ripped the disfigured stretcher from the wall behind him.  It was still dripping with his acrid blood and the corpse that lay nailed to it howled in sadistic delight.  Pyramid Head turned to Prodigi, who was just about to launch the oversized fireball at him, and hurled the stretcher towards him.  Then, he wrenched his primary weapon from the ground and stood in wait.

Prodigi saw the stretcher flying at him and immediately launched the fireball at it.  The undead corpse burst into flames as soon as the ball of flames made contact, and Prodigi cursed, spinning out of the way of the now flaming stretcher.  He was going under it and slightly to the side now, a smile forming on his lips.  Pyramid Head still didn’t have the edge in this.

Suddenly, Prodigi felt a burning hand grasp his arm and clamp down with the strength of tempered steel.  He immediately tensed up and cursed again as his forward momentum met the intense force of the hurled stretcher and knocked his arm out of its socket.  He looked up and saw the demon patient lean over and snarl at him.  Prodigi raised his other arm and began beating the thing with everything he had while trying to ignore the flames that were now licking at him.  With every beat came a grunt and another snarl from the flaming demon.  Prodigi was starting to lose the feeling in his arm, and that wasn’t good.  His feathers were being singed at their tips from the heat coming from the stretcher and the ‘victim’ strapped to it.  They were nearing the wall quickly, too.  This wasn’t going to bode well.

Pyramid Head watched all of this with ghoulish delight.  Beneath the red armor of his head, his mouth twisted upwards in a half-smile full of sadistic wrath.  Flexing his arms, Pyramid Head dragged his Great Knife behind him and began walking towards where he figured Prodigi would eventually free himself.  This was all too easy.  Prodigi had been so confident and he was making all of the mistakes that Pyramid Head had imagined he would have been smart enough not to make.  Even after Pyramid Head had given his victim the time to heal himself, he was still proving to be quite weak.  It wouldn’t be his most satisfying kill, but he would still enjoy himself.

Prodigi cursed as he saw Pyramid Head stalking towards him as he continued to speed away.  How he wished that this transformation did not rob him of his standard weapons.  He couldn’t concentrate enough to call a Meteor or Bahamut and the fireball had obviously not worked.  This was just not his day.

And then, just as suddenly as the arm had latched onto him, Prodigi began to fall as the arm was severed by the flames.  The powerful clamping stub of an arm was still attached onto his injured shoulder, but at least it could now be gotten off.  Of course, Prodigi was still falling and it looked like Pyramid Head would be there to meet him.  He cursed and wished that he had use of his other arm so that he could get a good sized fireball at Pyramid Head to slow him down.  Prodigi’s concentration was definitely slipping, and he sorely wished that there was something he could do.

Prodigi’s vision blurred for a moment and he grabbed his head as a twinge of numbed pain throbbed lightly in his forehead.  He lifted his hand to his head and rubbed it lightly, attributing the sudden change to his rapid descent.  He had to figure out some way to survive this fall and also avoid Pyramid Head once he reached the bottom.  He reached his hand down to where his sword would be if he were not in his Trance mode and…it was there.  Prodigi’s eyes widened and he looked down at himself.  He had lost his Trance mode and he had use of his weapons again!  Prodigi gripped his right sword and smiled.  He was about to meet up with Pyramid Head.

In a flash of light, Prodigi whirled around and slammed his sword down at Pyramid Head.  Naturally, Pyramid Head raised his blade and blocked Prodigi’s fairly forceful slam with little effort.  Prodigi descended slightly and then launched himself over Pyramid Head’s heavily armored head.  The instant Prodigi felt his feet touch the ground, he whirled around and thrust his sword clean through Pyramid Head, piercing the tattered and bloody lab coat completely.  Prodigi quickly left his sword inside Pyramid Head and deftly removed his Desert Eagle from its holster, pointing at this demonic beast and firing the entire round from point blank range.  Every resounding crack left another large hole in Pyramid Head’s disgusting form, and Prodigi just continued emptying the round.

Click!

Click!  Click!  Click!

Prodigi’s trigger finger was still depressing the gun’s firing mechanism, but his round had finally run out.  Prodigi opened his eyes completely and looked at the various gaping holes in Pyramid Head’s torso.  He could see the other side of this demonic warehouse completely, including the flaming mangled remains of the stretcher and the patient it had held that lay smoldering on the floor where it had crashed down following the final impact with the wall.  Blood continued to drip down from the holes in Pyramid Head’s body as Prodigi looked on.  It was a bit unnerving how Pyramid Head was still standing there after the assault, but Prodigi had almost come to expect that.  Standing up completely, Prodigi put the gun back in its holster, took the hand that was still gripping his shoulder off of him, and reached out to reclaim his sword after throwing the bloody stump to the side.

“Are you quite through yet?”

Prodigi froze where he was, his hand outstretched towards the sword.  The voice was Pyramid Head’s.  How was he still alive after that last assault?  Was there no way he could be killed?  Prodigi looked at the bullet holes in wonder, and then his face changed to display a horrified look as the holes began closing and new (though still dead-looking) skin crept over the gaping wounds.  Prodigi cursed again and his hair stood on end.  What the hell was this creature?

Pyramid Head shifted slightly, his head turning slightly and appearing to gaze right down at Prodigi.  Prodigi froze even more where he was, unable to move even slightly as he stared up at the demon.

“Then let’s continue.”

Pyramid Head raised his hand and slammed Prodigi’s own sword back towards him, the hilt striking Prodigi’s silently frozen frame and knocking him off-balance as he stumbled backwards.  Pyramid Head, with speed carrying from the sheer force behind the blade, whipped the Great Knife into the air and brought it straight down towards Prodigi.  Prodigi saw it coming straight at him and made his best effort to dodge out of the way, his arms flailing in his unbalanced state.  The very edge of the blade caught the arm that had been dislocated and the force made Prodigi begin a spin, completely uncontrolled and dangerous.  The Great Knife slammed into the ground and the rafters shook with the impact, another great trench ripping through the concrete.  Prodigi slammed into a corroded crate and quickly righted himself.  His chest was heaving up and down as adrenaline was pumped into his blood and the blood raced faster and faster.  His heart was beating faster and faster to accommodate all of the gas exchange that was happening in the presence of this putrid and decaying air.  Prodigi regained his footing and ran behind the crates to escape from the madness.

Pyramid Head stalked around in the open space between the crates, taking care to avoid the trenches that he had made.  This was actually turning out to be quite an amusing and entertaining fight.  Prodigi had a few more cards up his sleeve than Pyramid Head had originally ascertained him to have.  Pyramid Head laughed cruelly to himself as he tried to find his prey once more.  His wounds were once again healing quite well.  Pyramid Head stopped and swept his eyes in front of him on the ground.  Prodigi’s sword was laying there – the one he had stabbed Pyramid Head with.  He had been careless enough to leave it out in the open like this.  What a fool.

Prodigi still hid behind the crates, trying to figure out some way that he could stop this demon tyrant’s terror.  Cradling his left shoulder with his right arm, Prodigi came to the conclusion that he would need both arms if he was going to do this right.  Ripping off a part of his left sleeve, Prodigi jammed it in his mouth and prepared to bite down on it.  He couldn’t afford to give away his position by screaming.  Not that there weren’t enough demons already screaming and howling in pain and anguish as it was, but Prodigi had a feeling that Pyramid Head would be able to discern his scream from theirs.  With his right hand firmly clenched on his shoulder, Prodigi squeezed down and began relocating his shoulder.  Immediately, he bit down on the cloth and tried his best not to scream.  Tears of pain began dripping down from his eyes and sweat beaded ferociously on his forehead.  His face was turning a deep shade of red and he was shaking – almost to the point where he could barely concentrate enough to move his shoulder back into place.

Crack

The pain subsided after a moment and Prodigi collapsed back against the crate, both arms hanging down limply at his sides.  He was still breathing heavily and his face felt extremely hot.  Prodigi spit the cloth out of his mouth and cursed aloud between his deep quivering breaths.  If he just had a few more moments, he would be ready to take Pyramid Head on once again.

Of course, Pyramid Head wasn’t intent on giving him those few short moments.  On the contrary, he didn’t want Prodigi to have any time to rest whatsoever.  Concentrating a little bit, he began summoning his minions to help him hunt down his query.  Demon dogs always did come in handy at times such as these.  Immediately, all around Pyramid Head, disfigured dogs began rising from the blood splashed everywhere around him.  There were five in total.  And they were all hungry for blood.  Howling and yapping, they each scampered off to find Prodigi.

Prodigi stood up as soon as he heard the first howl.  There was no way – Pyramid Head was hunting him down.  Prodigi drew his left sword with a slight twinge of pain, and quickly reloaded his first Desert Eagle.  He had to be absolutely ready.  He closed his eyes, held onto his weapons for dear life, and waited for the first dog.  He heard the sniffing and leveled his gun towards the shadow.  The hound’s snout crept into view, the maw open and dripping bloodied saliva, followed by an oversized bloodshot eye, looking everywhere for Prodigi.  Prodigi aimed directly at where the beast’s brain (if it had one) would be, and fired off a single deadly shot.  With a squeal, the beast fell and Prodigi saw it begin writhing on the ground.  Walking stealthily over to it, he fired a few more shots into it until it stopped moving completely, and then he kicked it away.  One down.  How many were left, Prodigi was not certain of.  But because of his gunshots, he knew that they now knew for certain where he was.

A howl confirmed his suspicions, and Prodigi whirled back around behind him to stare directly into the face of the demonic dog with its teeth gnashing, begging for Prodigi’s blood.  Prodigi swung his sword up, ducking as he cleanly sliced the dog in two.  His eyes still open, he saw it’s companion ready to leap in for the after kill, and he planted a bullet between the thing’s two sickly eyes.  It stumbled and fell to the ground.  Before wasting any more bullets, Prodigi stood there silently and waited to see if the creature would stay dead.  For an eternity did it seem that he waited, until he decided that it was no charade.  The dog was obviously not breathing, and such a shot would have killed anything no matter what.

Prodigi climbed up onto the level of crates to get a better idea of his situation: find the other dogs, Pyramid Head, and his sword.  Unfortunately, they were nowhere to be seen, the lot of them.  Prodigi cautiously swept his head around and tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his shoulder with everything he had in him.  He listened for the telltale snarls that would probably tell him if the beasts were anywhere around.  Naturally, they came.  Prodigi heard two distinct growls emanating from either side of him and he froze where he was, glancing each way.  They were on the piles of crates to the side of him, separated by relatively narrow gaps.  Prodigi raised both of his weapons a bit and stared straight ahead.  Judging the distance with his peripheral vision and figuring in about how fast he had seen two of the dogs run, Prodigi began breathing in a very specific rhythm.  He knew exactly when to strike based on when each dog took off in accordance with his breathing.

The dog on the left took off first, followed less then half a second later by the other dog.  As much as Prodigi wanted to, he didn’t speed up his breathing at all.  He kept his wits about him and waited for the precise moment.  The dog on the left leapt high into the air to go for Prodigi’s throat and Prodigi ducked down, thrusting his sword up into the mongrel’s neck and gut in quick succession while throwing himself below it and unloading three carefully placed shots towards the dog on his right.  Prodigi hit the ground and rolled out of the landing zone of that dog right before it came down on all fours.  With a well placed leg thrust, Prodigi leapt to his feet to once again place himself in a safe defensive state.  He looked at each dog standing there on either side of him.  They both turned around and Prodigi surveyed the damage he had incurred on both.  The dog he had stabbed swayed around a bit, coughed up a lot of blood, and collapsed as its eyes swung into the back of its head.  The dog that had been shot had lost an eye and use of its front right leg.  Prodigi couldn’t see any other wounds.  He raised his gun again and fired.  The dog was already moving and dodged out of the way of the bullet with a very well-timed jump.  But it was already moving to its right and was seriously losing balance.  The dog leapt at Prodigi and latched onto Prodigi’s gunning arm, biting down deep.  Prodigi clenched his teeth together and fired twice.  As he spun around with the now-dead dog, he caught a glimpse of Pyramid head standing there forebodingly.  The dog’s maw finally came loose and Prodigi heard the sickening crunch of bones and slap of dead flesh as the thing hit the wall behind him and then the ground.  He didn’t see any more dogs.  It was only Pyramid Head that he had to deal with now, or so he hoped.

As he turned, he saw Pyramid Head still standing there.  In his right hand he held the Great Knife.  In his left, he held Prodigi’s sword.  Prodigi cursed and remembered how he had left it in his rush to escape.  He had almost forgotten about it in the struggle with the demon dogs.  Now it was in Pyramid Head’s hands.  What was he going to do?

“You dropped this,” Pyramid Head said slowly.  With that, he raised the sword and held it backwards a bit.  Prodigi cursed and began backing up before realizing that he was almost at the edge of the crates.  He tilted backwards and began losing his footing just as Pyramid Head launched the sword directly at Prodigi.  Prodigi had no way to dodge this blade, nor was in the state of mind to do so.  The pain and the wound were inevitable at this point.

The blade passed cleanly through Prodigi’s chest, barely missing the vital organs and finally knocking him off of the top of the crates.  As he fell, Prodigi cursed himself several times.  He would never succeed if he died here, of all places.  He felt like screaming, but willed himself not to.  He slammed into the ground with a sickening thud and gasped for breath as the wind was ripped right out of him.  He closed his eyes in anguish and felt hot breath on his face before feeling the jaws of one of the demon dogs close around his neck.  Prodigi lashed out and knocked the dog away, only allowing a few shallow puncture wounds and the scratches that came afterwards.  He caught a glimpse of the dog’s head before having knocked it away and noticed a hole right between its eyes.  There was no way that thing could have survived.  Prodigi found that hard to accept.  Wincing, Prodigi lifted his hand towards the beast and formed a fireball in his hand.  With a grunt, he launched the thing and heard the squeal as the thing burst into flames and was finally laid to rest.  Prodigi was still lying on the ground, too broken to get up.  He could only hope that Pyramid Head would be slow enough getting around that he could regain some strength.

Pyramid Head walked over to the crates that Prodigi had just been standing on and felt them lightly for a moment.  Then, taking a step back, Pyramid Head put all of his weight into a tackle, pushing the whole lot of the crates over on the unsuspecting Prodigi.  Prodigi never saw it coming and was crushed beneath the crates.

After the dust cleared, Pyramid Head walked over the crates and bent down to pick up Prodigi’s completely broken form by the neck.  Despite being almost unconscious and several beaten, he still held onto both his sword and gun with everything he had.

“You monster,” he uttered as a spittle of blood dripped from his mouth.

“Thanks,” Pyramid Head responded mockingly.

Pyramid Head began walking towards the wall, picking up speed and finally slamming Prodigi’s head into the wall.  Once.  Twice.  Three times.  Each time harder than the last.  Finally, Pyramid Head hurled Prodigi onto the open ground behind him, past the fallen stack of crates where the battle had first begun.

“Pathetic,” he whispered under his breath.  “Amusing, but pathetic.”

Slowly, Pyramid Head walked back over towards Prodigi, his Great Knife dragging along behind him the entire way.  Suddenly, Prodigi’s entire world was that sound.  Just that one sound, the dragging of that awful blade.  It consumed him and all of his thoughts.  It was just far too much, akin to nails on a chalk board – a sound that seemed eternal and ever-present, forever there to rip at the mind with an undeniable, inevitable power.  Coming on the wings of destruction.

No, Prodigi wouldn’t accept that.  It wasn’t the end.  Not yet.

Pyramid Head drew ever-closer to Prodigi’s body as it lay there face up.  Finally drawing up to his victim prey’s side, Pyramid Head looked down at the wretched mortal lying there.  Raising his Great Knife directly above Prodigi’s neck, Pyramid Head allowed it to hover there for a moment, suspended there in the position of a hardened executioner.  Except that bloodlust was readable on every part of Pyramid Head’s body.  He enjoyed this.  It was ecstasy for him.  He thrived off of it.  It was his very existence.  He could kill.  So he did.

“Die, miserable filth.”

Pyramid Head gripped the blade with both hands and brought it down with every ounce of his strength.

Prodigi’s eyes flickered open and he saw the rapid approach of the blade.  It wasn’t the end.  He wouldn’t let it be.  It wasn’t his time.

With a small smirk on his face, Prodigi gazed up at Pyramid Head and summoned up the remainder of his strength.  With all of his energy contained in one final technique Prodigi disappeared from the battle in a flurry of feathers, right as the blade was a few mere inches from severing his head from the rest of his body.

Pyramid Head’s blade slammed into the warehouse floor and the floor crumbled away from where Prodigi had been just a moment before.  The entire floor ahead collapsed and crates began falling in on top of each other, fighting for the space below as gravity mercilessly ripped them down to the lower depths.  He stood there for a moment as he watched the ground crumble away, disbelief mounting on him.  He had lost his prey.  Pyramid Head dredged his Great Knife up before it slipped into the abyss and began walking away.

Prodigi appeared on the severe outskirts of Midgar, just outside the city.  Crying out in pain, he collapsed to the desert sands and lost consciousness.  Approaching on the horizon, however, were three weary travelers.  One had a flame atop his head and appeared to be walking along rather silently.  One had a distinctly feline appearance and was tagging a bit behind the other two.  And the third was skipping along happily with his blonde spikes bouncing with each step.  All three were intent on reaching Midgar.  All three had been traveling for several days without much rest or nourishment.  All three had become companions on some level.  But none of them expected to see a nearly-dead being lying outside the city.

“What is that?” Bax said, stopping and pointing ahead.  It was the first time he had spoken in several minutes, breaking Zack’s chipper dialogue.

Cut off in mid-sentence, Zack stopped skipping and stared ahead.  “I’m not sure.”

Lynx quickly assessed the situation, having been around enough dead and dying bodies in his life time (most of his own making) to know the deal with them.  “He’s not dead, but he will be soon.  Come on.”

Lynx picked up his pace and pulled ahead of the other two, now dumbfounded, people.  Zack turned to Bax and said, “How did he know that?”

Bax shrugged, “I not know.  Come.”

Bax took off behind Lynx, jogging a bit to catch up with him.  Zack followed him intently and they all encountered the fallen Prodigi around the same time.

“He was attacked.  He fought back and lost.  Miserably.”

Lynx bent down and looked at the sword.  “We can’t remove it ourselves.  We may do more damage than has already been done.  Bax, will you take him?”

Bax knelt down and picked Prodigi up carefully.  “Where did he make battle?”

“Not here, that’s for sure.  Either he was dumped here or…I’m not sure.”

Zack looked at his two companions in distress, “This is the most either of you have talked all day!  I can’t get a word in edgewise.  Oh well, where to now?”

Lynx looked up towards Midgar.  “We need to get him to an infirmary.  Fast.”

As soon as it had been said, they were on their way and soon had Prodigi under the care of trained professionals (or so they said).  Bax agreed to wait for him to come to while Zack and Lynx set out to search for work and a place to settle down for a while so they could regroup.

It was only a matter of time now.

---------
Winner: Pyramid Head
---------

"Two Dark Forces"   Valtiel  vs. Dark Crono   -   Location: Midgar

A glimmer of rainbow alloy partially averted Valtiel’s attention. His intention was clear… Additionally, a provocation for his unseasoned body arrived.

Dark Crono - “Before the dawn…”

Despite the evil cryptic language of Dark Crono… Valtiel understood and knew that a fight was immanent. Valtiel grasped the Great Knife as he prepared to test out the new abilities his evolved body could provide. The voice inside of Valtiel’s began to speak to him again…

Threat…
Danger…
Esper…
Destroy…

Dark Crono scanned Valtiel’s thoughts momentarily… they were jumbled and puzzled due to the extra presence within Valtiel but Crono’s keen mind could make out what he was thinking, that Valtiel had determined that Crono was an enemy after the esper… and that he should be destroyed. A smile caressed Dark Crono’s concealed face… to think that such a dark, pathetic, pitiful, mortal born of Senate imperfections could destroy that which is even darker than oneself.

Valtiel observed the rainbow alloy of Dark Crono’s sword… potentially powerful but no match for the Great Knife. Valtiel wasted no time in being the aggressor early in the fight. He firmly grasped both hands on the Great Knife and slashed left-to-right horizontally at Dark Crono. Crono’s gold eye quickly observed the giant blade and Crono quickly faded away as the Great Knife slashed through the air were he once stood, the Great Knife then emphatically slammed into the wall of the alley on Valtiel’s right creating a large hole in the wall. Valtiel pulled the Great Knife back out from the brick rubble and looked around determining were his foe vanished to and found nothing… Valtiel slowly turned his head and looked through the hole in the wall of the building next to him, and saw the interior of a dimly lighted warehouse with crates littered within. And as Valtiel peered inside he saw one of the brighter lights beaming in the center of the warehouse… and saw Dark Crono standing in the center of that light looking directly at him, almost in the exact same pose he was in before he vanished away moments ago.

Valtiel stepped through the hole in the wall, entered the warehouse, and quickly checked everything that was within it to get a feel for his surroundings. Crates were stacked higher up near the walls while the center of the somewhat small warehouse was relatively open… this would work perfect for Valtiel.  Valtiel dropped his sword to his side. He held his arms out to the side slightly and angles his head upward. The sound of deep voices chanting began to fill the warehouse. A drop of blood streaked down from the mouth on the back of Valtiel’s head. Soon his entire body seemed to seep blood. The drops from his head came to its edge...but they didn’t fall or drip, the rolled under and continued down his body even traveling up at times. The blood reached his feet and the streaks started to crawl across the floor in all directions. The chant grew louder and the speed of the spreading blood grew faster. Valtiel was a crimson form of his normal self, still standing there with outstretched arms. The blood enveloped everything, it ran up crates and walls. It smothered the light from the skylight and symbols. It reached Dark Crono’s feet and started to encase him as well. Valtiel could see it happen, this Dark Crono was very much different then the fighter Prodigi he encountered before… Prodigi tried to stop the blood from taking over, Dark Crono almost seemed to embrace it.

The warehouse’s lights were the only things that seemed to carry over during the transformation as they continued to beam small portions of light into the warehouse. Dark Crono slowly observed his surroundings… the hole in the wall was gone, replaced with a red fleshy substance almost similar to a scab.  The walls looked like human flesh, the walls bled and even healed themselves right before Crono’s eyes. Some of the crates still remained, but they had become bloodied metallic versions of their former selves, with chunks for flesh hanging off of their sides. Other crates had been replaced with things that would horrify a normal man, rusted wheelchairs, stretchers, and mutilated corpses… probably bodies of past people this thing has laid to waste. Dark Crono then returned his attention to Valtiel, who was still standing in the place he was in before the transformation and was holding the Great Knife firmly.

Dark Crono- “Such a fitting place for evil to due battle… you may feel confident and stronger here Valtiel, but these subsistence’s designed to feed one’s fears are insignificant to me.”

Valtiel charged at Dark Crono holding the Great Knife to his side, as he came within twenty feet of his foe Valtiel suddenly leapt up and flipped and landed on the ceiling continuing his charge towards Dark Crono.  Running across the ceiling, Valtiel jumped down towards Crono preparing to swing the Great Knife with all his momentum and with gravity on his side as well. Dark Crono held the Rainbow Sword in a reverse grip as Valtiel came down towards him for the attack and the two swords crashed fiercely with neither fighter backing an inch. Dark Crono then exerted an amount of force enough to push the Great Knife back about a foot, Dark Crono then spun counterclockwise on his right heel and connected a painful spinning heel kick on the side of Valtiel’s head sending Valtiel flying back a few feet.

Valtiel quickly stood up and charged again with immense speed. The Great Knife cut horizontally through the air, from Valtiel’s right to left, at Dark Crono’s midsection. As the blade came closer Dark Crono essentially cart wheeled in mid air allow the Great Knife to whoosh past underneath Crono. As Valtiel followed through with his attack Dark Crono landed square on his feet again following the cart wheel and immediately lowered himself and swept the legs right out from underneath Valtiel. Valtiel began falling to the ground and Crono continued his spin following the sweep, and before Valtiel could even hit the ground Dark Crono’s right foot connected with Valtiel’s side sending the monster flying through the air across the warehouse. Valtiel regained control over himself fast enough to land on one of the walls and immediately sprung from the wall flying through the air back towards his opponent. Valtiel held the Great Knife over his head preparing to attack again and came within feet of Dark Crono.  But before Valtiel could attack the gold eye of Dark Crono seemed to squint momentarily and immediately following Valtiel felt an unnatural force take control of his body, like an extension of Dark Crono’s arm had grasped on to him. Valtiel was then emphatically thrown over Dark Crono slamming into some of the stretchers and wheelchairs that were in the vicinity. Valtiel lied amongst the wreckage for a few moments as Dark Crono slowly turned around to face Valtiel from a distance. Pushing aside wreckage, Valtiel stood up slowly. Direct attacks weren’t going to be effective at this pace… it was time to improvise. Valtiel slammed the Great Knife into the ground in front of him and went into some kind of concentration.

Dark Crono heard some odd noises echo through the shadows of the warehouse. From the darkness horrid creatures slowly emerged… they looked like disfigured humans… nurses… carrying vast types of weapons like crowbars, pipes, knives, and a few had pistols…Crono stood motionless as the nurses from hell slowly crept closer. The sound of a pistol’s “click” echoed in the warehouse, so these things were at least smart enough to handle their weapons. On Crono’s left side, just out of his vision, one nurse raised her shaking pistol and aimed it at Crono. Valtiel watched as the trigger was slowly pulled. Three sounds suddenly echoed through the hell-warehouse, the first sound was the sound of the gun firing at Dark Crono, the second sound followed immediately after that and it was the sound of something clashing onto metal, the third and final sound was the sound of a body hitting the floor. Valtiel looked as Dark Crono’s sword instantly had moved between the bullet’s path and Crono himself, deflecting the bullet away. Valtiel also witnessed another nurse fall to the ground, with a bullet hole in her head… signifying that Crono in fact intentionally deflected the bullet towards another of the nurses.

Valtiel realized early that it would take much more to slow this being down then the mere nurses he conjured up from his stay in the Midgar Hospital. So there would be no holding back on things for Dark Crono to fight. The nurses surrounding Dark Crono halted momentarily, and Crono observed as he sensed many more weak evil creatures manifest themselves within the warehouse. From the shadows creatures emerged, all sorts of them; with legs and bodies covered in sacks of skin, mutilated yet glistening mannequins, more nurses, zombie’s crawling out from the walls, walking mutilated bodies with giant club like things for arms, and scattered within all of these enemies were a few creatures with red pyramid like heads carrying long spears… Crono could sense that none of these enemies singularly were powerful enough to destroy him, and none of them were as powerful as Valtiel himself… the strongest of these creatures were the few pyramid heads, they were probably half the strength of Valtiel individually… what made these creatures a potential threat for Crono was their sheer numbers, there had to have been roughly a hundred of these monsters packed within the warehouse all closing on Crono.. and Valtiel was still lurking as well… Dark Crono calmly observed the hell-army Valtiel had summoned and determined that the bulk of the monsters were of the weaker variety, the mannequins and skin-covered creatures, and so forth it seemed the monsters got stronger as their numbers dwindled…

Dark Crono also kept Valtiel in check, he knew that if Valtiel would see a chance to take him out Valtiel would seize that opportunity. But Crono knew he was too good to leave an open chance for attack.

As the hoard of monsters came towards him in all directions Crono held the Rainbow Sword at his side in his right hand and slowly extended his left hand outward into the air. A black silhouette formed in Crono’s left hand and it slowly formed into matter, it was a long handled weapon with two blades on opposite ends. The metal blades glistened like they had never been used and looked sharp enough to pierce anything. The weapon itself had a dark presence to it that seemed to speak to Crono’s soul. And apparently the dark aura of the weapon was sensed at some level by the monsters that had closed in on him, for they all momentarily halted at the sight of the dark weapon. Crono looked at both weapons in his hand… it was a rare occasion that Crono loved, when he got to utilize both of his weapons… The Rainbow Sword… and the MasterMune…

Valtiel’s monsters circled within a 5 foot perimeter of Dark Crono and prepared to attack… Valtiel himself observed the impending chaos and his voice echoed through the warehouse…

Valtiel- “Attack…”

A dozen of the monsters came in to attack Dark Crono. Crono twirled the MasterMune in his hand as the blade caught one of the monsters under the chin slicing the lower part of his head open.  Crono stabbed the Rainbow Sword into the gut of another monster, and sliced the sword through the monsters side out through him and into another one killing them both. The MasterMune planted itself within the chest of a nurse and Crono used his strength to fling the nurse off the blade into a group of other monsters.  Six of the flesh-sac monsters staggered towards Dark Crono, and Crono simply spun with the Rainbow Sword’s blade extending outward slicing all of the monsters in half. Crono hopped up onto the shoulders of a nurse and used his feet to snap her neck, as the nurse’s body collapsed to the ground the Rainbow Sword slashed downwards directly implanting itself through the body of a mannequin. As he quickly pulled the sword back from the mannequin’s corpse his elbow caught a Closer directly in the “face” sending it staggering a few feet back. Crono quickly turned to face the staggered Closer and as he turned the MasterMune shot forward impaling the Closer in its throat. While pulling the MasterMune from the Closer a nurse shot at Dark Crono, and Crono simply deflected the bullets again this time the deflected bullet shot through the bodies of two zombie-like creatures killing both. Crono dashed to the nurse who shot at him and slashed both the Rainbow Sword and MasterMune at the nurse’s neck sending the nurse’s head flying off in a small puddle of blood. Crono leapt into the air to avoid an incoming Closer and as he leapt a good ten plus feet into the air other monsters jumped up to try and attack.  In mid-air Dark Crono gently swung the MasterMune and Rainbow Sword as bodies of Valtiel’s monsters fell back down to the ground. Gravity then took effect on Crono as he came flying back down toward the monsters below. Dark Crono focused on one monster that was below him and extended his right leg outward as it slammed into the face of a Closer, crushing its skull.

Valtiel looked on from his small distance as Crono almost effortlessly killed the hoards of creatures. He slowly grasped the Great Knife once more, knowing his time to re-enter the fight would be coming soon… since Dark Crono had already slaughtered over a third of the summoned monsters.  Valtiel would still wait as he would see how the pyramid head creatures would fair in the fight, none of them were as strong as Valtiel when he was in his Pyramid Head form… but they should be suitable for killing this pest.  Valtiel looked towards his right, were the five pyramid heads stood like statues.  The five looked at Valtiel just as he looked at them, and Valtiel nodded his faceless head.  The pyramid heads held their spear weapons and seemingly marched into battle.

Dark Crono lowered his body and spun as the MasterMune sliced the legs out from eight monsters that were surrounding him and as he stood back up he swung the Rainbow Sword upwards taking the head off of another nurse. One of the skin-covered creatures shot an acid like mist towards Dark Crono and as it came closer Crono faded away and reappeared behind the monster that shot it at him and impaled him with the Rainbow Sword. Crono used the skin-covered monster as a springboard as kicked off the back of the monsters “head”, pulling the Rainbow Sword out at the same time, and spun around in mid air connecting a solid spinning kick on the head of a closer. The “leg-arms” of another mannequin shot out like a boxer’s punches trying to hit Dark Crono, but Crono easily dodged the swings and spun 180 degrees as the MasterMune stabbed into the mannequin’s torso. Crono looked past the initial masses of monsters for a moment and saw the pyramid heads charging into the battle finally. One of the pyramid heads immediately plowed through the lesser monsters and came after Crono. He shot out his spear towards Dark Crono, who easily turned slightly as the spear missed inches from his body. Crono immediately raised one of his knees up hitting the spear forcing it upwards, Crono then swung the Rainbow Sword slicing the pyramid head’s spear in half and followed by slicing the MasterMune at the pyramid head, slicing its red gigantic head off. Dark Crono looked over his shoulder and saw Valtiel still standing firm, Crono then thought to himself.

Dark Crono- My tolerance for these insignificant manifestations has grown thin…

Dark Crono kicked off of one monster and flew through the air landing his feet on one of the warehouse’s fleshy walls, he immediately sprang off of the wall flying directly at the center of the remaining forty or so monsters with the MasterMune and Rainbow Sword extending outwards to his left and right. Crono flew right through the heart of the monsters and landed on the other side of the mass on one knee, looking downwards, with the MasterMune and Rainbow Sword still extended outwards. Valtiel cocked his head momentarily as there was a momentary standstill. Valtiel looked over his hoard quickly, and as he looked he noticed that most of them were not moving… slowly a large amount of the monster’s bodies fell in half and died… the pattern of dead monsters was directly down the path Dark Crono had just flown through… only seven monsters were still alive… four pyramid heads… two nurses with steel pipes… and one closer. Dark Crono slowly raised his head and looked at Valtiel. Two of the pyramid heads attempted to sneak up behind Dark Crono as he stared at his adversary, but it was futile… Crono easily sensed their approach and without breaking his stare at Valtiel he twirled his weapons in both hands and stabbed them backwards, stabbing both pyramid heads. Crono slowly stood up and turned around to look at the last four living monsters Valtiel had summoned… Crono walked over the corpses of dead monsters and walked towards each of the other monsters that were still alive. And as he came near each one he easily blocked their attack and killed them quickly and continued walking as if they were nothing. The last two monsters to be alive were the pyramid heads, they were obviously the smartest of the monsters since they attacked him as a pair. The pyramid heads swung their spears downwards and Crono easily blocked them both with his two weapons. Crono forcibly pushed both spear weapons back and instinctively Crono ducked as the Great Knife of Valtiel whooshed over Dark Crono, and instead of hitting its assigned target… Valtiel killed the last two pyramid heads.

As the two pyramid head bodies landed on the ground in a juicy thud, Dark Crono slowly stood and turned to face Valtiel.  Valtiel raised the Great Knife again and swung at Crono, who easily blocked. As the two blades clashed Valtiel saw the MasterMune disappear into nothingness from Crono’s left hand. Dark Crono used his strength to then push the Great Knife aside and as he did, his now free left hand shot out and grabbed Valtiel’s neck and grasped tightly. Valtiel dropped the Great Knife and both hands tried to pry Crono’s vice-like grip from his throat… a downside of his new form… he needed air. Crono slowly lifted Valtiel off of the ground, and then threw Valtiel across the warehouse landing on a pile of dead monsters. As Valtiel gasped for air he looked and saw Dark Crono slowly walk towards him again.  Valtiel crawled back away from Dark Crono as a new sensation overwhelmed Valtiel… fear…

Valtiel continued crawling backwards until he pressed up against the wall of the warehouse.  From there Valtiel began crawling up the side of the wall in an attempt to give himself some distance from Dark Crono. Valtiel crawled halfway up the wall and turned around to see were Dark Crono was… and he couldn’t find him… puzzled Valtiel turned around to crawl some more and immediately saw Dark Crono standing in front of him on the wall. Startled, Valtiel lost his grip and fell landing on the floor once more. Dark Crono easily hovered downwards landing softly on the ground.  Valtiel quickly turned around and ran for the Great Knife, as he reached his weapon and turned around he was once again greeted by Crono inches from his face.  Despite having no eyes or facial features… it was like Crono’s glowing gold eye gazed right into Valtiel’s “eyes”… the gaze froze Valtiel, it even made the voice in Valtiel’s mind be silenced. Crono broke his gaze finally and drove his fist into the mid section of Valtiel’s body. Valtiel grasped his stomach region and hunched over as he gasped for air, Crono took one step to Valtiel’s side and then drove his elbow into the back of Valtiel’s skull… sending the monster face down into the warehouse ground.  Dark Crono observed his surroundings once more as the warehouse’s appearance began to change, it began to shift back and forth from its current hell version to its original version. Crono looked back down at Valtiel, who lied unconscious. Crono held the Rainbow Sword in a reverse grip, raised it upwards, and shot the blade down at Valtiel.

-----------
OOC- Dark Crono wins the fight - Now the ensuing RP
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In the alley of Midgar Archangel Zero, Sephiroth X, Zack, and Bax stood puzzled. The power Sephiroth X had sensed coming had vanished away just under a half hour ago and hasn’t resurfaced since. Archangel Zero himself was starting to act different…

Archangel Zero clutched his chest.

Archangel Zero- The esper... "It's singing. Go. Now."

Sephiroth X raised an eyebrow.

Sephiroth X- "Leave… now?”

Fishing inside his cloak, Azriel withdrew the esper. It was hot, pulsating, burning his hand. The heartbeat within the tiny jewel was racing.

Archangel Zero- There's no time. It's over now.

There were no options left. The esper would be taken. Fallen Phoenix would be resurrected. What could he do? The things fighting in the distance could track him. The esper was guiding them straight toward Azriel. The souls once again gathered around him... no longer harmless. They jeered and wailed at him, a lance of preternatural sound. Rain began to fall. the sky turned black.

Archangel Zero- Two hundred years of life... to die at the hands of...

A whisper fell from his lips, quiet as the rain.

Archangel Zero- "No."

And the Archangel Zero... snapped.

Every light in the square exploded. All was dark but for the red illumination flowing from the eyes of the monster being unleashed. A strobe effect occurred whenever he blinked. A slow, guttural snarl was born in the depths of his being, and gradually became a roar. Rain pelted against his flesh, and was instantly turned to steam. The vapor cloud cast a hazy pillar of red light above his body. Glass shattered, and the very bars of metal windows bent outward, seeking to fly toward Azriel. Every lamppost in the square simultaneously cried out as they were twisted down, all pointing to the center of the square were the dark one stood.

Bax and Zack looked at Archangel Zero in disbelief.  Zack could not comprehend what was happening to Archangel Zero and Bax didn’t want to believe what he was thinking… Could this be Fallen taking full control over him? Was he witnessing the rebirth of his people’s nightmare?

The Monster lifted his hand on high. One, two, now many bolts of red and blue lightning arched from the cobblestones to the esper held aloft. Pulsating purple light seeped between his fingers, and smoke rose as the gloves burned. A wind whipped around him, sending his hair swirling like a whip. His cloak billowed, and the eyes became brighter. The roar from within never ceased.

It shattered. The Esper exploded into fragments of infinite insignificance.

Azriel fell silent, nearly crumpling to the pavement. He clutched his smoldering hand, eyes still burning.

The rain fell harder. As everybody was focused on Archangel Zero and what was happening, a cold wind blew at Sephiroth X’s back causing his hair to flap in the air momentarily… Sephiroth X slowly turned around towards the direction of that brief wind gust… he looked down the alleyway… he saw the street lights that illuminated this section of Midgar… far in the distance he saw street lights lose their power and simply turn off… the next closest set of lights then did the same… and the darkness started to come closer and closer… Sephiroth X was the only one knew what his meant… and in that instant he realized what had stopped that other power from coming closer… Sephiroth X could only say one thing slowly to himself… as X realized he was coming…

Sephiroth X- “…Oh no…”

"Test of Strength"   Sephiroth X  vs.  Prodigi   -   Location: Midgar

Sephiroth X- Are you sure about this?

Sephiroth X asked, sliding the Masamune out of its sheath a few inches.

Prodigi- I will be.

Prodigi watched as Sephiroth X slowly drew the Masamune from its sheath while gripping his own sword. Prodigi stared at X’s fabled blade momentarily as it came to X’s side, and as X went into his battle stance quickly spun around and un holstered one of his Desert Eagles. As he completed his spin back to facing X he pointed the gun forward and fired directly at Sephiroth X. The bang echoed through the gym immediately followed by a loud ‘PING’ noise. As smoke streamed from the barrel of Prodigi’s pistol the Masamune was held across X’s body deflecting the bullet away.  Both fighters stayed in those poses momentarily when three more shots were fired from Prodigi’s pistol, all of which were deflected again by Sephiroth X.

Prodigi- Not bad…

This time Prodigi shot four bullets towards the appendages of Sephiroth X in a spread formation. Within one twirl of the Masamune though, all four bullets deflected in separate directions… one zinged right past Bax and Zack, who cautiously stepped into a slightly even safer position. Sephiroth X’s eyes focused directly at Prodigi’s.

Sephiroth X- …You’re empty… would you care to try some more?

Prodigi looked at his gun momentarily… X was right… empty

Prodigi- Thank you…

Prodigi then tossed his empty Desert Eagle aside, and un-holstered his other gun and tossed it next to his empty one.

Prodigi- …But obviously wasting bullets seems pointless…

Prodigi gripped one hand around his curved sword and slowly brought it up into his attack stance. From a safe area, Zack saw Prodigi unsheathe his sword and realized that he carried Prodigi’s other sword with him. Bax looked at Zack as the boy stared Prodigi’s second sword briefly, and Zack himself slipped into thought momentarily.

Zack- Erg… for the sake of fairness… HEY PRODIGI!

Both X and Prodigi looked down at Zack quickly as Zack hurled the other curved blade up to Prodigi. The sword flew in a boomerang fashion and Prodigi stuck his free hand up into the air as the swords handle almost instinctively slipped perfectly into its master’s hand.

Prodigi- I was wondering if anybody had found this thing…

Sephiroth X looked down at Zack momentarily…

Sephiroth X- That kid is way too trusting considering what’s gone on lately…

Prodigi held both his swords in his hand as he quickly reoriented himself to having both of his weapons again. He then held both blades battle ready and then stared at X again. As both fighters stood there an eerie moment of silence took over the gym, the calm before the storm.

Prodigi then dashed at and swung both swords downward. X quickly blocked with the Masamune, both of Prodigi’s swords curved around the Masamune’s blade and the tips of them were inches from X’s face. X pushed the Masamune upwards and forced Prodigi’s arms up into the air, with an extra surge of force X pushed Prodigi back a few steps and quickly spun and kicked Prodigi directly in the mid section. Prodigi staggered backwards from the kick and quickly regained himself as he dashed at X again. This time Prodigi extended both of his arms outwards and used his swords to attack from opposite directions, one sword coming down from left to right and the other coming upwards from right to left. Sephiroth X slashed the Masamune at Prodigi’s left sword, the one going downwards right to left, the momentum of Prodigi’s own slash tied in with the Masamune forced Prodigi’s attack to over-swing and the blade swung passed X too early and Prodigi lost his balance and began to fall down. During the fall however Prodigi continued spinning and as he spun his second blade came slashing around and managed to slice a little bit of the skin of X’s leg.

X stepped back and cringed slightly from the cut. Nothing more then a flesh wound though, a really severe paper cut was about all it was. Prodigi quickly got up and hurled one of his swords at Sephiroth X… but the sword missed way far left of X… Prodigi immediately following the throw dashed at X and swung his remaining sword at his adversary, and his sword locked up with the Masamune. Both swordsmen put out enough force to cancel each others out so they stood at a standstill momentarily, then X saw Prodigi smirk suddenly as X heard a boomerang like sound come up from behind him. Sephiroth X didn’t even look to see what gave off the sound since he already determined what it was, Prodigi’s sword looping back to its master in that boomerang like style. X just instinctively pivoted enough to were Prodigi’s sword caught the metal of X’s shoulder guard. The collision created a huge spark right on X’s shoulder as X continued his pivot and the sword lost momentum and fell to the ground. As X pivoted 360 degrees he quickly swooped down and leg swept Prodigi sending his foe falling to the ground on his back. Prodigi immediately sprung back up to his feet just as X completed his spin upwards. Both fighters met and clashed blades upon standing up. Prodigi quickly stepped back and lunged forward at X with the sword in his right hand, X immediately side stepped to Prodigi’s left and easily avoided the lunge. As Prodigi zipped past X, X emphatically lifted his right knee catching Prodigi square under his jaw. Prodigi’s body curled around X’s knee and leg momentarily and then slammed to the ground directly beneath as Prodigi’s head smacked the floor with a sickening thud. X quickly freed one hand from the Masamune and drove it down at Prodigi’s chest. Barely seeing the attack coming, Prodigi rolled out of the way and X’s hand slammed onto the ground loudly. Prodigi sprung to his feet and wobbled momentarily, then raised both swords into the air and prepared to drive them down at X. Sephiroth X sucked in the pain from his fist while he held the Masamune with both hands again as Prodigi’s attack came downward. Just as Prodigi’s sword was drawing near X, X quickly stood up and slashed the Masamune in an upper right to lower left direction with the tip of the blade gashing across Prodigi’s skin.

Zack gasped quietly as he saw X’s attack connect before Prodigi’s. Prodigi himself aborted his attack as X connected with his, and the black trench coated fighter stepped back and cringed in minute pain as he looked down to see the extent of the attacks damage. Part of his coat was slashed apart as the attack itself sliced about a half inch or so into Prodigi’s own skin. Sephiroth X stood there in his follow-through position observing Prodigi’s movements. Prodigi slipped off of his trench coat revealing the large torso crossing wound, and Prodigi smirked as he continued to look down at the wound. Then both fighters observed as the gash slowly healed up and closed. X’s eyes followed the healing skin until its completion.

Sephiroth X- …Figures

Prodigi looked back up at X again after the wound healed.

Prodigi- Apparently both of our weapons are very much useless in this battle…

Sephiroth X- Give me another open chance like that one… And I’ll prove otherwise…

Prodigi lifted his swords momentarily and threw them down to the ground on both sides of them. The tips stuck onto the floor. Then Prodigi stood there in a semi martial arts like stance.

Prodigi- I want to see how good you are without that thing…

Sephiroth X smirked, and then stabbed the Masamune into the ground beside him as well. For now he would play Prodigi’s game and fight him hand to hand.

Prodigi- I assume that’s your way of saying you’re game…

X’s body slowly motioned into a modified tae kwon do stance, and X slowly extended one arm out and, with his hand, gave Prodigi the “bring it” gesture.

Prodigi came at X and punched with his right hand. X quickly blocked and pushed the arm out of his way and quickly blocked a left chop from Prodigi. X shin kicked at the side of Prodigi’s mid section, and Prodigi blocked with his left arm. Pushing with his left arm, Prodigi pushed X’s leg back and spun X around 360 degrees but as X finished the spin he came around with a left fist that Prodigi quickly deflected away. Doing so left X’s torso exposed and Prodigi took advantage, he quickly thrust kicked at X’s chest sending the silver haired fighter flying a couple yards back slamming into the ground. Sephiroth X reverse somersaulted back onto his feet and charged back at Prodigi. Preemptively Prodigi side stepped and raised his knee, but X quickly halted his own momentum and grabbed Prodigi’s leg which followed with tripping up Prodigi’s other leg sending him falling to the ground. X held on to Prodigi’s other leg though and spun around and threw Prodigi into the air. Prodigi quickly regained himself in time as he saw himself flying up at one of the steal beam rafters. Prodigi shot out his hands and grabbed onto the steal and briefly perched on the rafter as he refocused himself on X. With all of his leg strength Prodigi shot like a bullet down towards X again and readied a fist with one of his hands. X leapt up into the air towards Prodigi, and X readied a fist of his own for his opponent. The two then met in mid air and both threw their fists at each other and connected in identical spots on each others jaws. The energy from each blast shot them in opposite directions from each other, X smacked into a railing that prevented him from falling down to the lower floor and Prodigi landed near his own swords.

Blood trickled down from the side of X’s mouth, and a large bruise was already visible on Prodigi’s face. The impact of slamming into the metal rails gave an added dose of pain that kept X on the ground longer then Prodigi. Seeing a huge opportunity in sight, Prodigi determined that he should seize the fact that he can use his swords again while X is far from his Masamune. So Prodigi quickly reached down and grabbed his swords and dashed at X. The sound of the swords being pulled from the concrete told X what was happening, and his eyes quickly refocused as he saw Prodigi dashing closer and closer holding his swords ready to strike.

Sephiroth X- I know this battle is meaningless… but he’s starting to go all out… and I don’t like losing…

X’s green eyes flared briefly as X’s adrenaline gave him energy for one last bit of effort. X with both hands grabbed the top rail just before Prodigi reached him, and flipped himself over the railing holding on tightly. Just as X flipped, his feet caught Prodigi square under the jaw sending him flipping over with his head slamming into the ground once more. X flipped all the way over the rail and as he held on for too long his body slammed into the side of the upper floor fiercely, the force of the slam jarred X’s hands from the metal rail and he fell down and landed on the basket ball court wooden floor below. Both Zack and Bax sprinted over to check on X, who was lying on the ground almost unconscious.

Bax- You alright?

Zack- Seph!!?

Both could hear X’s voice speak out semi faintly.

Sephiroth X- Is… he… out?

Bax quickly stood up and backpedaled a few yards just enough so he could see Prodigi, who was lying motionless on the floor above face-down. Bax looked to Zack and nodded yes.

Zack- Yeah… Bax says he’s out cold.

X with his own strength slowly brought himself back to his feet as he staggered briefly. A small trickle of blood remained along the side of his mouth and a scrape was visible on his forehead, probably from the slam into the side of the floor moments ago.  X slowly stepped to the stairway that led back up to second floor and both Zack and Bax followed behind him. As the three came back to the site of the fight Prodigi still lied on the ground motionless, this time the blows to the head that X delivered were enough to put him out.  X walked to the Masamune and slowly pulled it from the floor, and then walked to Prodigi. X stood above Prodigi for a few moments and watched as Prodigi slowly began moving again as he regained consciousness. Prodigi rolled over and looked upwards, and saw the tip of the Masamune millimeters from his neck. He followed the blade upwards and saw X standing looking down at him.

---------
Winner- Sephiroth X
---------

Prodigi- …Im… Impressive…

Sephiroth X smirked, he respected Prodigi as a fighter now… but didn’t find full trust in him yet.

Sephiroth X- You fight well…

Listening to X’s words and then slipped back into a semi-sleep/unconscious state. Presumably resting from the battle in his own unique way.

Sephiroth X- Take him and put him in my room… he’ll need a little bit of time to recover…

Bax- Alright, no problem.

Bax lifted Prodigi over his shoulder then started walking to the bedrooms… then stopped and looked at X.

Bax- Which one…?

X pointed the Masamune towards his room, and Bax took Prodigi to it.  Zack however walked up to X as he lowered the Masamune.

Zack- Why… your room?

X slowly looked towards Zack.

Sephiroth X- Because I will not need it any longer.

Zack- What?

Sephiroth X- I will be leaving shortly after I recover… Before Prodigi wakes up again.

Zack- But why!?! I mean… we all just met up again and… and… we make a good team!

X looked away from Zack, and out one of the windows showing the dreary Midgar weather.

Sephiroth X- I realize what I must do now… Where it will take me I do not know… All I can say is it will take me to dark places too dangerous for any of you… I only know it is what I must do…

Zack- What must you do…?

Sephiroth X- Find him… Dark Crono...

Both Zack and X remained silent momentarily.

Sephiroth X- I will remain here a little while longer, there are a couple things I must complete regarding your training… But after that I will be gone… I don’t know for how long… And Zack, do not follow me when I leave. Your life will be in supreme danger if you do, so much danger that neither Bax or myself could protect you…

Zack remained silent… X was a type of role model for him and didn’t want him to go.

Zack- I’ll go help Bax with Prodigi now…

Zack walked towards X’s room were Bax was lying down Prodigi.

Sephiroth X however stayed standing in his place, looking outwards through the window. He didn’t want to lie to Zack… but he had to. Sephiroth X knew were his quest would take him first, and he knew telling Zack or Bax would put them in immediate danger…

Sephiroth X- My quest will focus on and end with Dark Crono… But it will start with Valtiel..

"Fallen's Power"   Sephiroth X  vs.  Valtiel   -   Location: Midgar

As the blades of the Masamune and Great Knife pressed firmly against each other, the faceless head of Valtiel was almost arrogantly cock-eyed as it looked at Sephiroth X. With sufficient force X pushed forcing the Great Knife above Valtiel’s shoulders exposing his midsection, which was quickly followed by a Sephiroth X knee to the gut. Valtiel quickly responded though as he used one of his legs to trip up X’s raised knee sending the green-eyed fighter onto his back. Immediately after landing on the ground X saw the Great Knife coming straight down at him. X quickly rolled away from Valtiel and heard the Great Knife land with a loud ‘ping’ onto the concrete. After quickly springing to his feet Sephiroth X came at Valtiel with a flurry of slashes all of which were being blocked by Valtiel. X only hopped all of his quick movements would cause Valtiel to lose his balance and control over his massive weapon, perhaps he could do to Valtiel what he did to Zack in the first step of Zack’s training.

After three more quick slashes all blocked by Valtiel, X took a step back and swung the Masamune baseball bat style at his foe. Valtiel didn’t prepare for such a bold attack from X, and given the extreme speed that the Masamune was coming at him at, Valtiel barely managed to get the Great Knife between he and X’s sword. With a large spark, the Great Knife blocked X’s powerful attack but sent Valtiel staggering back off balance due to the inertia created by the Great Knife. Immediately seeing Valtiel off balance X went in for a quick hit, he somersaulted towards Valtiel and upon completing the roll X slashed the Masamune horizontally creating a devastating diagonal slash across Valtiel’s chest. Valtiel staggered backwards as blood dripped from the huge gash while Sephiroth X remained fixed in his follow-through position watching the effects of his attack. Valtiel then managed to finally rebalance himself and looked down at the wound as it slowly began to heal. Sephiroth X quietly sighed to himself as he saw the quick healing which reminded him of when he fought Prodigi.

Sephiroth X- “What can everybody do that now?”

Before the wound completely healed Valtiel rubbed some of his own blood onto his hand and held it up to his ‘face’, his tongue slowly came around his head from behind and reached out to lick his own blood. Then as the slithering tongue return to its oddly placed mouth, Valtiel chuckled to himself.

Valtiel- “…My turn.”

Valtiel immediately turned around and sprinted towards the wall he was now facing, and as he reached the wall his feet stuck allowing Valtiel to run right up the wall like it was solid ground. After running up about 10 or 15 feet Valtiel sharply turned to his left and started running across the walls of the small square courtyard. X held the Masamune defensively preparing for an attack as he observed, he quickly noticed that as Valtiel circled his speed increased dramatically making the walls he was running on almost blur. Valtiel made one more lap around the courtyard walls and held the tip of the Great Knife onto the brick wall creating sparks as Valtiel ran, then at a random spot in his sprint he bent his knee’s and shot off the wall like a bullet right at Sephiroth X. The Great Knife twirled in Valtiel’s hand and as he came within a few feet of X he grasped his weapon with two hands and swung fiercely. X was well prepared to block the attack, but it was the force of the impact that totally caught X off guard. X flew a few feet in mid air away from the point of impact and then rolled an additional 10 feet on the ground until slamming into the far wall. X quickly shook off the brief pain and saw Valtiel already coming at him for another offensive. Valtiel ran with impressive speed and raised the Great Knife into the air for a swing, Sephiroth X shot the Masamune upwards prepping to block the next attack while laying on the ground but instead of the Great Knife slicing down at him Valtiel instead used his weapon as a diversion and slid on the ground baseball slide style at X sending his foot crashing into X’s chest. The slide’s impact combined with X already being pressed against the building’s wall proved near devastating, the brick behind X broke away creating a small indentation into the wall and X yelled out in pain momentarily but was cut off as the air ran out from his lungs.

Valtiel quickly stood up and slid his foot under X’s torso and quickly kicked up his leg sending X flying over Valtiel’s head and crashing back onto the concrete face-down in the center of the alley. Sephiroth X wrapped his arms around his pain-stricken chest again and coughed as blood spurted out onto the concrete. Valtiel never turned around after kicking X up into the air, but instead ran up the side of the wall he was facing and spring-boarded off it and flipped in mid air back towards X. As Sephiroth X finished his momentary coughing of blood, Valtiel’s legs came crashing down into X’s back from above. X screamed out in pain again as Valtiel literally stood above him. The demonic monster then hopped off of Sephiroth X’s back and stood there observing the momentary damage. X slowly staggered back up to his feet a blood ran from his mouth and scrapes and bruises were visible on his face. With his left arm wrapped around his chest, X used his free hand to hold the Masamune in the best battle-ready position he could. Thoughts began to run through X’s mind.

Sephiroth X- This is bad… he’s tougher then even I thought he was… I can’t win… I still have to hold back though… he might be watching...

Valtiel looked and almost felt pity for his adversary. Despite the courage X was displaying by not just giving up, it was still like shooting fish in a barrel. Valtiel walked up to X, the Great Knife still in hand, and as he came within a few feet of Sephiroth X the Masamune came slashing at him. It was obvious to Valtiel by the lack of force exerted in the slash that X was in too much pain to truly hold is own anymore, and Valtiel caught the Masamune in mid-slash with his hand. Valtiel’s blood dripped down the Masamune’s blade as it dug into Valtiel’s hand, but the monster showed no sign of pain. Valtiel looked into X’s eyes momentarily, he saw determination and a will to survive despite that his body was probably going to give out at any moment… Valtiel thought to himself.

Valtiel- Such a soul… an untapped potential lies in him… perhaps that means he’s still useful alive

The Great Knife dropped out of Valtiel’s other hand and curled into a fist, and that fist swung directly at the face of the unguarded Sephiroth X. The impact of the blow pulled the Masamune out from Valtiel’s hand and sent X flying a few feet backwards landing on the ground, dropping the Masamune upon landing. Valtiel calmly picked up the Great Knife again and casually walked over to where Sephiroth X was lying curled up in pain. Valtiel kicked X soccer-style in his covered up chest sending X airborne for a foot or two landing near one of the courtyard walls again. Sephiroth X coughed up more blood and tried to stand, but could only get to his hands and knees. In the corner of his eye, X saw Valtiel walk up to him again, and this time Valtiel’s free hand reached down and grabbed X by the back of his skull and then lifted the silver haired fighter up into the air. Valtiel viciously swung X like a rag-doll and drove him face-first into the brick wall near him causing the wall to break as X was driven into them. Without even letting go of the back of X’s head, Valtiel pulled X from the small crater in the wall and threw him back to the very center of the courtyard were the decaying Pyramid Head lied.

Sephiroth X’s body was limp, and X himself was slipping in and out of consciousness. His vision was definitely going in and out of focus and he could feel blood all over his face. Valtiel walked with a small swagger towards X’s beaten body and used his foot to roll X over. Valtiel reached down and tightly wrapped his hand around X throat, and lifted him up into the air. Instinctively X’s arms shot up trying to pry Valtiel’s vice-like grip from around his throat, but he was too weak to even have a shot of freeing himself. Valtiel held X up a few feet in the air by his throat and looked at him in pride of what he had done, definitely this was a successful test of the power Fallen had provided him with.

The decaying Pyramid Head suddenly busted open like a water balloon as crimson red blood poured out of it. The blood formed a circle about 10 feet in diameter, the center point being were Valtiel stood holding X. Then the blood slowly expanded in to fill that circle covering the entire ground including the Masamune. The red blood began to crawl up Valtiel’s legs and then his torso, then it began to cross over Valtiel’s arm and then to Sephiroth X. The black clothes of X slowly were covered in the same crimson read blood then, almost as if it was directed to do so, began to crawl over the heads of Valtiel and Sephiroth X in unison. Then as the two blood covered figures stood there momentarily, their figures began to slowly lower down back into the circle of blood below them. After their figures became one with the blood pool, the blood began to flow inward again as it all flowed down an invisible drain right were Valtiel once stood. Then just like that, the Masamune, the Pyramid Head, Sephiroth X, and Valtiel were gone with no trace of their presence even left in the courtyard.

-----
Winner - Valtiel
-----

"Flame to Claw"   Bax Firago  vs.  Lynx   -   Location: The Desert of the Dead

Bax thrust both hands before him and unleashed a dense fireball straight at Lynx.  It was small, but at least it would signal to everyone else that this was a serious fight and to get out of the way.  A lot of power was packed behind the attack, but it was nowhere near what Bax capable of.  He had only just begun to tap into his power.

 Lynx naturally dodged out of the way of the attack and the fireball careened towards yet another wooden stand, which exploded into flaming splinters.  People around the two still stood there, awestruck and mouths gaping as they watched the fight go up a notch.

“Get out of here!” Bax shouted at them.

They stared at him for another minute and Bax rolled his eyes, “Do I have to do everything?”

“Get out!” he screamed.  Flames erupted all around the area and people finally started to scatter.  Bax breathed a sigh of relief.

 And then a growl awakened him from his reverie.

 Bax looked up and saw Lynx right on top of him, his claw raised and ready to strike.

“Damn,” he whispered as he turned on his back left leg and raised his hands to block.  The savage blow knocked him down and he crouched, grunting, trying not to be crushed.  The claws bit into his arm and he winced at Lynx’s surprising power.  Bax surged flames to his arm and Lynx released his grip and grabbed his claw, growling for a moment as Bax backed up and passed flames over his arm to make sure he was ready again.

 Lynx seemed to be fighting more with brute strength at this point, which seemed unusual for him.  Lynx struck Bax as more of a tactical, calculating fighter who used finesse and skill rather than force to overwhelm his opponents.  Perhaps Bax was just getting the wrong idea, but he was seeing plenty of potential openings in Lynx’s demeanor.  If that was the case, then Bax would easily be able to overwhelm him and—

 A growl, right next to Bax, grinding into his ear.  Bax’s eyes drifted to his right just as a massive claw passed through the space where Bax had just been.  Bax dodged back with eyes wide yet again and regained his bearing, still drifting backwards to increase the distance between he and Lynx.

 How the hell did that happen?  Bax had seen Lynx there, and he barely turned his gaze away for a moment when Lynx was suddenly right next to him.

 “Don’t let your guard down, son.”

 Right.  Bax nodded and shifted his center of balance forward, speeding towards his opponent.  Obviously, Lynx was still plenty in control of himself and hadn’t just changed completely.  Bax smiled—he hadn’t ever had a chance to fight Lynx.  This would be a good opportunity to stretch his muscles and really got a hold of himself—even if it was a deadly duel.

Lynx lashed out with yet another swipe with his left claw, and Bax ducked down and brought his right hand up to graze Lynx’s arm with a fiery touch.  Lynx growled, but remained constant and in the fight, and Bax came up in front of him and sent out a solid left hook of his own towards Lynx’s stomach.  Lynx caught the blow in his right hand and clamped down.  Bax repeated the blow with his right hand and met with the same results.  Bax released a flame in both of his hands and Lynx howled in pain, snarling something awful.

Bax shook his head, “I am sorry, Lynx, but I cannot have you causing trouble here in Nibelheim.  I do not know what is wrong with you, but I do have to stop you.”

Lynx snarled and Bax stared into his eyes.  They burned vengeance deep into Bax’s soul and Bax shook his head.  He had to make this as quick as possible.

Bax closed his eyes and pushed out Lynx’s snarling.  They were struggling—Bax continued to try and dig his fists into Lynx while Lynx tried to crush his hands with his powerful claws.  Meanwhile, flames licked at Lynx’s claws from the inside.  Bax pumped more energy into his flames and Lynx threw his head back and yelped.  Suddenly, the grip on Bax’s hands doubled and Bax gasped and shrieked as he felt the bones in his hands suddenly buckling.

“What the hell?” he murmured.

Lynx picked Bax up by his hands and slammed him into the ground.  Bax lost his wind at the impact and curled up, nursing his hands.  Lynx growled and hissed, then took hold of Bax with both of his hands and hurled up into the wall of a nearby building.  Bax hit the building and felt the bricks giving way beneath him.  He winced and tried to contain the pain as best as possible, but it hurt like hell.  He fell to the ground, coughing and sputtering, but drew himself back up and lifted his head to see where his opponent was coming from next.

“…shit.”

 Lynx came charging at Bax with his claws wide open and his fangs bared to the world.  Bax didn’t even have time to put his hands up to block when Lynx leapt at Bax with his claws out and clamped onto both of his arms, tossing him the air and catching him by the legs.  Suddenly Bax was spinning around through the air, and the semi-urban landscape of Nibelheim rushed past him in a wicked blur of flames and sand and stone and wood and chaos everywhere.  He flew up into the air and his face met savagely with the rough dirt as Lynx slammed him into the hard ground once again.  And again.  And again.  Bax was completely disoriented.  He didn’t know which way was up.  He wasn’t even sure there was such a thing as up anymore.

 Bax wearily jutted his arms out and tried to form a thought.  Leverage…ugh…

 Bax’s arms hit the ground and he threw his weight forward…or backwards, whatever was the opposite direction from Lynx.  Just when Bax thought that he wasn’t making any leeway, Lynx’s legs lifted off the ground and he began to fly through the air, over Bax’s head and legs, and towards the building.  Bax sort of half-smiled—at least the incessant smashing had stopped.

 Unfortunately, Lynx’s grip on Bax’s legs had not, and as Lynx hit the wall of the building hard, Bax found the precious ground leaving him once again, and he crashed a new hole into the wall.  The small house was beginning to get more than it could handle, and Bax felt the wall shake as he made impact.  He fell down after a moment, and crawled away while Lynx sat there in a stunned daze.  Bax turned around and faced Lynx—he had to do something, anything…at least to buy some time.  This would not be a quick fight.

 The wall behind Lynx was cracking like crazy, and it was obviously beginning to buckle.  Bax apologized in his mind to the owners of the small abode and a flame sparked and crackled in his hand.

“Stay down, you bastard,” Bax whispered wearily as he thrust his hand towards the wall and sent out a small fireball.  Naturally, the wall crumbled and buried Lynx underneath a pile of rubble.

 Bax smiled.  Hopefully, that would buy him at least a little bit of time.

 Bax stood up and backed up to a building across the street, leaning against the wall and breathing heavily as he watched the pile intently.  He needed to get some sort of strategy going, or else Lynx would make quick work of him.  It seemed like this transformed Lynx had an abundant supply of energy and endurance, and was very deadly.  Moreover, Bax wasn’t used to just fighting with his fists, and he was getting his ass kicked by powerful blows that were knocking him senseless.  He hadn’t had time to think at all since being assaulted by Lynx.  Just when he thought he was figuring it out, he was eating dirt again.

 Bax clutched his head as a splitting headache ran rampant and began pulsing in his temples, spreading out over his eyes and blurring his vision.

 “Shit,” Bax said again.  He closed his left eye and lazily kept the right one a slit open while he covered his face with his hand and tried to ignore the splitting migraine that was growing stronger by the moment.  Now not only did his muscles and bones ache, but his brain did, too.  This was just great.

 Bax had to get the advantage.  He wasn’t sure how he might manage to do that, but he had to gain some more leverage and stay a step ahead of the brutish Lynx.  Or else he would be crushed.

 And as much as Bax wanted to use his swords, he had no idea where they were being stored.  So he had to rely on his fists and his other abilities…and he had to remember what he had been taught.

 It was safe to say for now that it would be best to fight Lynx from as far away as possible.  With that in mind, Bax opened his eyes and clenched his fists again.  Flames erupted in his palms once again and he crouched down.  He just had to remember that he had to knock Lynx out—not kill him, nor severely harm him.  But he couldn’t let him do anymore serious damage.  Not to anyone.

 The rubble shifted and Bax leveled his right hand towards the rubble.  A claw jutted out through some of the stones and Bax winced, closing his left eye and steadying his hand as he began concentrating more energy into his hand.  “Please, stay down this time,” he whispered into the wind.  The rubble began shifting out of the way and Lynx crawled out, his claws crushing down on the stones to lift him up.  His gaze instantly fixed on Bax and for a moment, Bax swore that he could see the Lynx he knew in there.  Still cold and cunning, but not completely bloodthirsty or black hearted.  There was a singular moment of something that resembled confusion and fear, but then it was gone, replaced by this bestial apparition that had taken control of Lynx and changed him.

 Bax cried out, “Bata!” and the area in front of his hand glowed red for a moment as sparks spiraled inward to a spot of swirling red fire.  The ball grew almost instantaneously to three times the size of the fireballs Bax usually launched, and rocketed towards Lynx.  Lynx snarled and eyes the thing, putting his claws up to block it.  Bax smiled, and brought his hand closer to his face.  Not this time…

 Bax snapped his fingers almost at the last minute and the fireball shook and ruptured, splitting in three.  The one remaining in front of Lynx slowed down and hovered there for a moment while the other two split off to other sides.  Lynx’s eyes followed one of the other two for a moment, and Bax shoved his hand forward, slamming the primary fireball into an unsuspecting Lynx.  Lynx stumbled backwards and turned down in surprise as he felt the burn of the flames and the concussive blast of the dense force.  He managed to keep himself aright, but just barely.  A second fireball curved down from the sky and blew Lynx to the ground.  Down on the ground, Lynx snarled in anger at the pain and began rising back up.  The third fireball soared out of the sky and flung into Lynx’s side, pitching him to the side and sending him spiraling off to the side, pitching and flying down the road a few paces.

 Bax sighed and smiled.  He cracked his fingers and stretched his arms out—that had drained him significantly, but hopefully it worked.  Bax walked out of the shadows and into the street to see if Lynx moved.

“Please stay down,” he murmured into the wind.  “For your own good.”

Bax’s flames continued to rage, but more silently now—he didn’t want to waste needlessly.  And he hoped the fight was over.

 It wasn’t of course.  Lynx stirred, and raised a mighty claw to help himself up.  Bax cursed his luck and crouched down, waiting for Lynx.  He didn’t have enough time to gather up another larger fireball, and singular ones weren’t enough to take Lynx down.  They might slow him down, but there was only so much that he could do…

 It was time to pull out another stop.

 Bax’s eyes flashed and he put his wrists together before his face, fists closed and palms towards his face.  He barely peeked over to see as Lynx got up and turned around to face him.  His flame turned a light, vibrant blue and began coursing around his hands.  Slowly, the flames began to solidify and silvery blue blades extended up from Bax’s wrists like katals.  “Vestabla Ulawino!” he cried out as the energy blades finished forming.  Bax threw his arms out to either side and glared Lynx.

“I didn’t want to have to hurt you, but you leave me no choice.  Come on!”

 Bax lunged out towards Lynx, who responded by beginning to run towards Bax.  Not lumber—run.  Bax shook his head and sped up, changing his footwork and weaving in and out, while Lynx continued to come straight, his eyes keeping track of Bax.  They finally met and Bax took a quick feint to the left.  Lynx dodged to the right and Bax dove down to cut at Lynx’s leg.  Lynx brought his foot up and crashed it down on Bax’s back.  Bax coughed at the jolt but brought his blade up and nicked Lynx’s ankle with both blades.  Lynx howled out and Bax slid out, rising up behind Lynx and cutting into his side with a flash of his blade.  Lynx spun around and slashed horizontally at Bax.  Bax blocked with both blades and was knocked backwards, off-balance.  He stumbled backwards and put both hands forward, summoning up a fireball and sending it at Lynx to keep the distance between them.  Bax let it off and was knocked off his feet by the force.  As he rolled backwards and landed in a kneel, the fireball launched towards Lynx, who put his hands up.  The ball hit and dissipated, leaving Lynx with only minor burns and the will to keep on going.  Only a slight pause.  But it was all that Bax needed to right himself for the fight again.

 Bax leapt into the air and propelled himself towards Lynx from above.  He slashed downward and Lynx blocked with his claws, the nails proving sufficient to stop the blade.  Lynx shoved Bax back up and Bax flipped up in the air, somersaulting backwards and landing in front of Lynx.  From there, he began jabbing out towards Lynx, trying to get in a good blow, but Lynx continued to block him with decent parries using his claws.  Lynx would, when given enough time, jab out at Bax himself.  But they continued to trade blows, trying to cut each other, and finding the way blocked each time.  After the first few blows—nothing.  A standoff.  And it was starting to bug Bax.

 Where were the openings he had seen at the beginning of the fight?

 Bax struck out savagely with his right hand, swiping across Lynx.  Lynx leapt back and swung a claw down at Bax’s head.  Bax put his left blade up to block it and loosened his knees, buckling downward and using Lynx’s own forward and downward momentum to slide through his legs.  Lynx pitched forward and down and Bax came up behind him and stabbed a blade into Lynx’s back.  Lynx howled again and whipped his tail around, knocking Bax away hard.  Bax grinned.  There.  A few more hits like that, and he might be able to subdue Lynx.

 Lynx turned around and unleashed a brutal howl.  Bax twitched and clutched his ears for a moment—that had hurt.  Suddenly, Lynx went airborne, soaring through the sky at Bax with his claws viciously outstretched.  Bax shook his head and put his hands up to block, but was unable to throw enough weight behind his block.  Lynx’s claws bit deeply into Bax’s shoulder and they both pitched to the ground.  Bax yelped at the impact and gritted his teeth as Lynx’s claws dug deeper into his shoulders.  Lynx locked his grip around Bax’s arms and put a crushing force into his grip.  Bax gasped and panted, bringing both arms around and stabbing them directly into Lynx’s chest.  Lynx growled and dribbled spit all over Bax’s face.  Bax turned away and spit off to the side.

“Get off, Lynx!”

Bax shook his head and Lynx increased his grip yet again, digging Bax further into the ground.  Bax screamed.

 Lynx threw his head back and howled, then dove in and latched his ferocious maw onto the nape Bax’s neck and his shoulder.  Bax screamed in pain even louder now and looked at his right shoulder, where Lynx was currently gnawing.  Tears streamed down Bax’s face—this was undeniable pain.  What the hell?  Razor sharp fangs continued to dig deeper into his shoulder and blood began spurting out into Lynx’s mouth.

 Bax cursed and withdrew his left blade from Lynx’s chest, putting it instead palm up right on his chest.

“I said…get OFF!”

The area around Bax began to glow red, and the sand began to quake and rumble.  Lynx lifted his right hand and slammed it into Bax’s chest, digging the claws in deep.  Bax coughed up blood, but refused to stay down.  He wearily lifted his right hand to join his left on Lynx’s chest, and he began murmuring something in Phoeniyan, gurgling blood along the way.  The ground around the two of them turned reddish in color and began to shake as the buildings quivered.  The glass began to crack and Bax’s eyes lazily closed.

 “Draca roglia!” he shouted, his eyes suddenly flashing open, colored completely red.

 The ground exploded in a vibrant, hot red flame that culminated around Bax’s arms and launched into Lynx, engulfing him completely.  As the attack began to make its impact and Lynx began to feel the flames, he slowly lifted into the air, his claws and teeth coming out of Bax.  And then it was all over.  Lynx launched up high into the sky, riding on the waves of a massive column of fire, spiraling high into the air and burning the whole way up.  Bax’s arms shook from his vantage point at the bottom center of the Inferno, as he prolonged the attack as much as possible.

 At long last, Bax’s arms fell, and with them, so did Lynx.  Lynx began a slow descent back down to Nibelheim, picking up speed on the way, and trailing a tail of smoke behind him.  He landed a few dozen feet away on top of a building, crashing through all the floors and hitting the ground floor.  Hard.  He was instantly knocked cold unconscious.

 Bax was pretty close, though.  With several significant holes in his body, he had lost a lot of blood, and could barely move because of it.  He felt so weak…and cold…

 “Get up,” he said to himself, spitting blood out of his mouth.  “By the Ancients, Bax, get up.”

Bax put his left arm on the ground and rolled himself over.  The moment his right arm touched the ground, he winced and fell down, groaning and biting his tongue.  But now he might be able to push himself up.

 With his face in the ground and dirt once again finding its way up into his nose and mouth, Bax took a deep breath and pushed himself up onto his knees.  Slowly, shakily, he stood up.

 God it hurt…

Bax turned around slowly and took a step towards where he saw Lynx fell.  He had to make sure…that it was over…and that Lynx was all right.  Bax hadn’t wanted to really hurt Lynx, but he was deep in the battle—he had to stop Lynx.  Maybe he had put too much into that last attack.

Step.  Pain surged up through his leg, jolting, piercing, shocking.  He winced and paused.  He had to keep going, had to get past this.

Step.  Bax’s knee shook and his breath became shallow.

Step.  Step, step.  Every time, a little easier, every time a little more painful, every time a little more numb.  Bax’s headache had never left—he had forgotten about it for a little while as his brain was dragged to the pain of the gaping holes in his body, but it had always been present.  And now it returned to the forefront of his mind with a vengeance—Bax’s vision instantly blurred and he pitched forward, falling to the ground.

That was it.  Someone would have to find him.  Bax closed his eyes and succumbed to the pain.

============

Victor – Bax Firago

============

"The Battle of Prosperity"   Sephiroth X  vs  Dark Crono   -   Location: The Super City

*The rain fell by seemingly gallons, lighting flashed across the sky, and thunder rumbled the mega skyscrapers of the Super City. The unexpected thunderstorm was going on for a good couple minutes, and the weather leading up to it was acting strange for days, and everyone was still taking shelter in the buildings that were close to them leaving the streets totally desolate. The dark clouds hid the stars of the nighttime sky casting an ominous feel on what would be the greatest battlefield in known history.

*Down the very center of the main road in the central section of the Super City… Sephiroth X slowly paced as the rain poured down upon him. Every footstep he took splashed up giant chunks of water and sent ripples through the accumulated water on the streets, and with the unprecedented silence of the Super City every one of those footsteps sounded like their own rumble of thunder.

*Those seeking shelter in the local office and restaurant buildings peered out the windows to stare at this single man taking on the elements. Then slowly they began to recognize him, wondering if this was one of the two men that The Senator had mentioned in his unexpected television broadcast. And as everyone became aware of whom that single man was, they slowly started to face the elements themselves and come out of the buildings to see him a little more close up. Slowly people began to line the streets. Sephiroth X gave no attention to them as he continued his dead stare down the long road ahead.

*Among the huge groups of gatherers, the blonde spiked hair of Zack also became soaking wet. Zack stood at the edge of the curb in his dark red cape that was once Archangel Zero’s, waiting to see his mentor walk past him towards his destiny. Standing right next to Zack was a man in a hooded sleeveless overcoat with the hood drawn over his head. Muscular arms and black pants could be seen coming from under the overcoat and a good portion of his face was visible as well, it was Bax. Since the extreme amount of rainfall would potentially have an effect on him, and so potential enemies wouldn’t see him, the hooded disguise would suit him perfect for this occasion. Along with them the red hair of Jack was also noticeable through the crowd as he stood alongside his friends looking onward. On the other side of the street, about ten or twenty feet down the road stood Prodigi about one row deep into the people, close enough to where he could see but at the same time covered by the people around him. In an alleyway adjacent to the road that Sephiroth X was pacing down, a manhole sized barely luminous Halo of the Sun emblem appeared on the wall of the alley. Moments later, the fleshy head of Valtiel shot outwards from it and looked up and down the alleyway making sure nobody spotted him. His appendages and torso crawled out from the hole in a barely human fashion as Valtiel then crawled against the wall of the building and got close enough to see what was happening, the winner of this battle could be a potential threat to him and Fallen. Off in the distance on one of the farther away skyscrapers, up a few hundred feet in the air, perched on the corner of a building like a gargoyle sat Archangel Zero. He could see everything from that distance and knew he wouldn’t be seen.

*The people along the streets were gathering at a huge pace, lining up along the street for as far as the eye could see. The crowds were thick too, now getting 10 plus rows thick stretching back into the alley between buildings. Everyone wanted to have a front row seat apparently, and the weather wouldn’t stop them from doing so.

*As Sephiroth X continued his moderate and determined pace, he now finally slowly turned his head to look at all of the people whom were gathering. As he slowly walked past he saw and locked eyes with Zack, that split second eye lock was all X gave Zack and X also saw the hooded Bax, and the red haired Jack along with the two of them. X slowly turned his head towards the other side of the street and saw all of the people lining up on this side as well seeing the shoulders and head of Prodigi within the hoards of people, and X could sense Azriel off in the distance. Then X turned and faced dead ahead again as his pace still continued. 

X thought to himself… “It’s just like I saw in my dreams….”

A bodiless voice behind him whispered, “…Not a dream…. A nightmare…”

* The source of that whisper, a ghostly figure, slowly advanced through the crowd with little resistance ahead of X…prolonging every step towards the center of the water-covered street. He already knew who was destined to appear… and the gathering would slowly begin to realize… it was Dark Crono.

*As X saw the raven figure slowly walk out onto the street, X slowed and then halted his pace. Sephiroth X stood stoic staring at Dark Crono as the rain ran down his body like he was a statue. Dark Crono himself slowly turned to face X and his hooded head slowly rose up, and the singular yellow eye stood out from the darkness under the hood… peering straight at X. The two stood there gazing fiercely at each other as the rain continued to pour, but during this extremely eerie moment of silence between the two the lightning and thunder even stopped as if it waited.

Dark Crono- Ah, the failed experiment …

Sephiroth X- …Crono…

*Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Dark Crono- The visions… they rehearse your every breath…

Sephiroth X- …Indeed…

*Lighting shot through the city and thunder rumbled loudly.

Dark Crono- You were created for this evening…and you alone determine the fate of this realm... Verily, this eve lies beyond my visions of the future… Closure of a life’s chapter shall be torn from this earth.

Sephiroth X- This place is where you finally pay for the sins you’ve committed, where you ultimately die by my sword…

*Dark Crono cackled under his hood as lighting revealed his wicked face.

Dark Crono- …A mere threat uttered in tongues. Confidence shall shed upon your crimson tears.

*Thunder rumbled.

Sephiroth X- No… not a threat… a promise… 

*Multiple strikes of lighting illuminated everything around and thunder roared like never before. Sephiroth X felt the anger finally build up inside of him and his fists tightened and shook in pent up aggression. Dark Crono, with a fluid step back, readied for the fight that destiny prepared.

*In unison the two ran at each other in a dead sprint. As the two halves of the Element of Prosperity came closer and closer, time seemed to slow down for both individuals as what could be their final thoughts sprinted through their minds.

*Sephiroth X thought about Catrina and her death, he thought about his only friends who had come here to witness this battle, thoughts of anger and hatred built up in his heart, and along with those emotions the feeling of a weird excitement built up along with them… X had wanted this for so long and now he had his time, and all of these feelings were translating into pure unrivaled adrenaline pumping into his veins.

*Dark Crono delayed for this moment for seemingly aeons. The creation of his experiment, at last worthy of full confrontation, held half of the Element and seemingly the universe. Generations of shed blood and tears tore at his inner soul, only to be rejected by the ones he truly loved. Heaven passed far beyond his grasp long ago… and only the destruction of mana’s existence remained his only means for salvation…

*The sprints of the two fighters quickened and their distance closed fast, the rain parting against their bodies as they did so. Sephiroth X’s hand gripped the Masamune tightly as he unsheathed it and just as a flash of lighting illuminated his sword, Dark Crono extended his Rainbow Katana. With every step, the elemental fates grew closer, the rain seemed to fall heavier, and the lighting flash brighter. Battle cries from the two grew in a slow crescendo as they both felt the clash finally coming.

*As their battle cries reached their peak, the two fighters were closing in on each other. The city watched intently through the rain as history unfolded before them. Zack and the others watched for another reason - this fight would determine the balance of good or evil in their future existence. For the friends of Sephiroth X, they knew of his past pain with Dark Crono and they knew that this moment was his destiny.

*Lightning flashed as the two fighters reached each other and they both swung for their first attack.

*The battle for mankind had now begun.

*Lightning flashed continuously as X and Crono’s blades clashed. Seph slashed horizontally at Crono from right to left, Crono promptly blocked the attack and shin-kicked Seph in his left side. Crono immediately slashed as Seph cringed momentarily from the kick. With an adjustment of his wrists the Masamune blocked the attack and Seph pushed forward sending his foe’s blade backwards while sending himself into a spin finishing with a slash at Dark Crono. Anticipating the attack Crono quickly moved his sword into a blocking position and pushed his blade outwards just as the Masamune connected, sending X’s momentum backwards spinning him counterclockwise. Within the spin X reversed his grip on the Masamune, stopped his momentum into his spin so his back was to Crono and drove the Masamune’s blade at Crono in a reverse thrust manner. Dark Crono avoided the attack and slashed the blade away to his right causing X to spin and face Crono again. Seph planted one of his feet to stop his spinning momentum as he faced Crono and saw Crono’s sword slashing down at him. Still reversed gripped, X quickly brought the Masamune’s blade between he and Crono’s sword while exerting strength outward to push Crono’s sword back away from him upon impact. Seph altered his grip on the Masamune back to a normal sword grip and slashed diagonally. Crono simultaneously slashed his sword at Seph in a mirrored style and their swords clashed midway. Dark Crono pulled his sword back quickly just as Seph pulled his sword back as well, and the dark one slashed upward at Seph this time, who was already slashing downward at Crono in another mirror like fashion once again resulting in a fierce clash. Both fighters attacked horizontally to no avail, and then both immediately slashed at each other and hit nothing but the other man’s sword as they had each other’s movements matched almost perfectly. X lowered his attack area quickly and slashed at Crono’s legs. Dark Crono quickly jumped over the low angled Masamune and Seph quickly spun from his own momentum. As Seph finished his spin Crono’s feet landed back on the ground and Crono without hesitation slashed at X’s head, Seph barely ducked under the blade of Crono’s sword and saw Crono spin similarly to what Seph had just done. Seph slashed again at Crono just as Crono completed his spin both swords crashed into each other with emphatic force, sending them both backwards a couple of steps. Simultaneously both Dark Crono and Sephiroth X planted their right foot and gripped their swords with both hands firmly. Both fighters then kicked off their right feet at each other and sent dramatic sword attacks at each other in unison. Sephiroth X swung the Masamune in a from-the-hip baseball styled swing while Dark Crono slashed the Rainbow Katana like he was swinging a sledge hammer down at a nail. Both blades crashed emphatically against each other, sending the hood off Dark Crono’s head and sending him spinning up through the air backwards while sending X bouncing and rolling backwards against the wet concrete road from the point of impact. 

*Sephiroth X drove his feet into the road to stop his backwards momentum as Crono crashed into the road landing on one knee creating a small person-sized pothole into the road. Seph’s head shot up looking towards where Crono landed and saw the red hair and pale face of the now hoodless Dark Crono staring back at him. Crono gripped his sword again and leapt up into the air intentionally spinning horizontally. As X saw Crono begin to descend from the air down towards him, X held the Masamune with two hands and leapt up into the air after his nemesis. Midway between X’s ascent and Crono’s descent the two clashed their blades once again. The blades grinding against other gave off an intense, bright spark that lit up the entire road like daytime for a brief moment.

*Both fighters altered direction in mid air to face one another as they both maliciously continued to attack each other. The constant swinging of their weapons sent rain flying off of them in all directions as they hovered in the air, delivering and blocking waves of attacks from one another. Crono landed one emphatic blow of his katana against the blade of the Masamune throwing Seph into a random spin backwards in mid air, and the dark one promptly pursued X and continued a barrage of sword attacks as he matched his spin and rotation to that of Seph’s. X ignored his mid-air position and disorientation, focusing on blocking Crono’s attacks, and during one aerial flip X gathered himself enough to alter his position slightly and connect with a powerful left jab right into the stomach of Crono. Dark Crono bent slightly from the punch, but the blow had little effect on him as he quickly retaliated by flying upwards and driving his knee up into the chin of Sephiroth X. The head of Seph shot backwards from the knee drive, and Dark Crono quickly spun in mid air while extending his leg and driving his shin into X’s back, sending Seph flying through the rain. X grimaced in pain from the two attacks but never had a chance to recover fast enough, because just as his eyes refocused he saw Crono zip past him in mid air, stop, pull back is right fist, and throw a devastating right hook that landed directly on Seph’s face as he flew right at Crono. X spun in all random directions as his body flew threw the rain at high speeds before promptly crashing into and breaking through the thick brick wall of one of the nearby buildings.

*Covered in moisture, dust, and brick Seph struggled to get to his knees as he realized blood was coming from his mouth, along with having a painful cut on his face and scrape on his forehead. Seconds later adrenaline kicked back in through X’s body as he quickly gripped the Masamune tightly and shot up to his feet. He looked back out through the hole he just made in the building… but Crono was not there. X’s eyes quickly darted around the building he was now in, this floor looked like it was under construction or something… it appeared like a massive floor-sized empty storage room with a high rise ceiling that revealed the boards that upheld the roof of the building, wooden pillars surrounded by concrete for structural support, and a couple of thin drywall makeshift offices and walls with glass windows… but still no sign of Crono. 

The surrounding area darkened suddenly, leaving not even lightning to penetrate the blackened arena. X stood motionless as thunder crackled and echoed all around him.

Settle down Seph, settle down damnit!… Calm yourself – It’s only a spell… Feel the area around you… he’s here…

*As those thoughts ran through his mind X calmly closed his eyes and brought the Masamune closer to him, as he slipped into almost a slight meditation. Cold and calculated footsteps were coming from a void and shadowed presence. As he raised the esteemed blade to his forehead, the cloaked figure pounced from behind with a rainbow blur. X immediately shot his green eyes open and slashed the weapon off its deathly path. Anticipating Sephiroth’s reflexes, Crono used his momentum for a secondary attack to uppercut X under the chin and sent him flying directly upwards.

*X promptly stopped his upward momentum and shook off the effects of the uppercut just as Crono hovered upwards with a devilish smirk on his face and thoughtfully held his arms behind his back. The smirk flared up the anger within X, and he quickly air dashed towards Crono and slashed his sword at him. Crono moved his body to minimally avoid the Masamune and quickly drove his knee into Seph’s stomach as Seph was in the follow through motion of his attack. X cringed and his body folded up over the knee of Dark Crono, and as Crono pulled back his leg he quickly raised up his arm and drove his elbow down into the back of Sephiroth X’s head, sending Seph slamming face first down onto the splintered floorboards.

*Sephiroth X rose to one knee and upon looking up… saw the eye of Dark Crono piercing down upon him like a demonic god, freezing him in that very position. As the immobilizing gaze pierced his soul, X knew he couldn’t die in such a pathetic state… and he wouldn’t fall short for Catrina’s revenge. There had to be a way…

*Dark Crono threw his head back in a hellish laugh as he scanned X’s thoughts.

Dark Crono- …You pathetic mortals and your false perception of life. You were an incomplete tube experiment and raised by ancient alchemy. Even with your worthier potential for existence, you yearned only for love and companionship.

*With a nearby lightning strike from the sky above, Crono’s smirk instantly changed into hatred as he forcefully drove the Rainbow sword into the floor.

Dark Crono- …I merely salvaged your failure when I determined how to extract the Element. The puzzle and paradox of nature required only three beings to unveil the Valley, and yet a fourth was born to aid the feeble link in the elemental chain. She… she was manufactured for your blind misery and disposed when I no longer required her. Catrina.

*And just like that… X let go… It would be the last time he would let Crono talk to him in such a manner… it would be the last time he would let Crono pull the strings of his life… X realized what he was fighting for now… not just for love, not for vengeance… but for everyone else Dark Crono could manipulate and destroy with power… The significance of what Sephiroth X was fighting for all matured and came to life inside of him, and renewed the burning passion to fight on within him…All this time X had held back his strength when fighting others so that he would not give away his strengths and limits to Crono… it was time to put that aside…

*The mako green eyes of Sephiroth X flared their vivid color brighter then ever before as the emotion on X’s face shifted into nothing more then pure anger and determination as he wiped away the blood that trickled down from his mouth. X’s hand gripped the Masamune tightly and then… 

*X began to stand and slightly glowed from the Element’s power … breaking through the immobilizing gaze that always held him back. 

*Sephiroth X stood up and glared right back at Dark Crono and then twirled the Masamune out in front of him, slowly motioning into X’s fighting stance with the Masamune pointing straight at Dark Crono. Then as X stood in that pose, his free arm slowly glided down the blade until it was fully extended at Dark Crono, and with a simple flick of his fingers… X told Dark Crono to “bring it.”

*As X finally revealed his true self, Dark Crono grasped his blade in the floor and muttered out a single phrase with twisted pleasure.

Dark Crono- Pitiful mortal…

*Sephiroth X slashed fiercely at Dark Crono and proceeded to unleash a barrage of fierce attacks like never before. Crono dodged and blocked the attacks, progressively backtracking to keep away from the now rejuvenated enemy he was fighting. Through the windows of the building, lighting flashed brighter and more frequently, constantly revealing the silhouettes of the two fighters doing battle within. Although Crono was still able to block the attacks, each attack was getting more difficult to block. With another offensive slash from Seph, Crono’s weapon was knocked out of the way and X promptly drove his free fist directly into the face of Dark Crono. X used the follow through motion of the punch to put himself into a spin and swapped the Masamune into his other hand mid-spin. As X continued the spinning motion he shot out his other now free hand, and the backside of the fist nailed Crono in the same place X’s fist landed a split second before. Just as the fist then connected with Crono’s face, Seph shot out one of his legs and kicked the feet out from underneath Dark Crono. Crono however used his abilities to basically propel himself into a full back flip and land on his feet in the same position he was just in. As Crono landed, he saw the blade of the Masamune coming directly at his head, and promptly ducked under the attack. He then used his katana to block a quick second attack from X as well. Seph used his strength to push against Crono’s Rainbow Katana and send his foe backwards a step, as Seph then quickly nailed Crono in the chin with a powerful aerial kick.

*The force and impact from the kick sent Crono flying across the room and through one of the glass windows in that floor. Blood and shards of the cloak were briefly seen in the night. X crashed through the drywall next to the window in pursuit before Crono even landed on the floor himself. Crono pushed down on the floor with his hands to flip himself upwards and land on his feet, just as X came at him with another offensive. Their two blades clashed once again and the two exchanged fierce attacks time after time, while the storm outside seemed to continually rage on matching the intensity of the two fighters. Seph continued to slash at Crono whom was still parrying the attacks, and was able to launch the occasional offensive attack as well. Crono slashed waist high, but X was already in a crouching position ducking under the blade. He then used Crono’s moment of vulnerability and shot up, landing a powerful thrust kick into the chest of the dark one - sending Crono against one of the support pillars in the building. With Crono’s back supported by the pillar, X forcefully slashed at his head. Crono ducked the split second that Seph cleaved completely through the concrete and wood pillar. Dark Crono pushed Sephiroth X back a few steps and stepped forward himself, and the two again exchanged quick yet powerful sword attacks with neither fighter yielding to the other.

*After continuously attacking and blocking each other’s attacks, the dust from the floor began floating up and around them from the drastic air movements. After a few more exchanges of attacks, Sephiroth X quickly took a step inward towards Crono, and quickly attempted a few quicker sword slashes at this closer range. With perfect timing, he used the momentum of his sword along with his own strength to push the Rainbow Katana down into the floor. X quickly took a step back in the split second that Crono’s weapon was useless and, with the very tip of the Masamune, Seph cut something just barely skin-deep into the cheek of Dark Crono… the letter ‘X’.

Sephiroth X- That was for her!

*Dark Crono said nothing for a response. Only a slight smile on the injured side revealed his horrific pleasure of the intensified situation.

*X gripped the Masamune tightly and swung with all his strength towards Crono. Just as the powerful attack was reaching Crono, the dark one managed to pull his katana from the floor and between himself and the Masamune. The sound of the Rainbow Katana’s metal shattering echoed throughout the building, and gleams of the spectrum reflected around Dark Crono as he fell backwards through the exterior window of the building, onto the road where the battle originally started.

*As Sephiroth X stoically walked to the shattered window of the room, he viewed the small indentation in the cold and wet pavement. Soiled with rain and blood, Dark Crono slowly raised himself and scornfully threw the shattered Rainbow hilt directly to his left. In the same motion, his other hand extended in the opposite direction. Dark energy began to materialize in his palms as he summoned the last legendary weapon… the blood cursed instrument of time… the Mastermune. 

*Immobilized by the profound energy requirement, Crono sensed that X was descending from above for a deathblow. The massive two handed swallow painfully rose just as the Masamune’s fatal point reached him, protruding directly through the center and broke the staff-like weapon in two. Holding the two halves as he spun backwards, Dark Crono watched the Masamune drive into the pavement that he was just standing on. Sephiroth X pulled his sword out from the road and promptly returned to his battle stance to see what his enemy would do with a broken weapon. Without even leaving direct eye contact of X, Dark Crono altered the grip of the two pieces in a reverse style. Frightfully haunting in the lightning flashes that followed, the extending blades became serrated and slightly hooked as if the Mastermune evolved into something far more evil. A deep and nearly silent laugh reached the ears of X.

*Sephiroth X’s facial expression didn’t outwardly change, but within him he felt a slight bit of astonishment and wonder overtake him as he saw the blades alter themselves. And in the back of his mind, Seph wondered if he just made things go from bad… to worse.

*Crono twirled the two Mastermune halves for a second and then air dashed towards his opponent. X found himself blocking various attacks from all directions and forcing him to make extremely quick movements to block the multidirectional attacks of Dark Crono. Sparks flew off the continual barrage of the Mastermune and slowly forced X backwards with every clash. Seph blocked a slash aimed at his chest, but his sword became locked with one of the Mastermune blades. Improvising on the moment, Crono locked the other blade onto the Masamune and shoulder slammed X to the ground. Without hesitation, the dark one thrust the two weapons point blank onto the Masamune again to force X’s weapon towards his neck. The two locked eyes for a brief moment as their weapons sparked from the intense forces being brought down, but X refused to give in. 

“A warrior slain with his own weapon…” hissed Dark Crono with amusement.

*As his Mako eyes flared momentarily, X sent a surge of strength through the Masamune and forced Crono’s arms upward into the air. Utilizing the brief opening, Seph executed a back flip kick and quickly altered his body in mid air to kick Crono backwards through the air. Briefly skidding across the road, Crono reversed direction back towards X again. Both weapons were sent above their heads and opened an attack from either member. Simultaneously, both planted their left foot on the pavement, landed their right kicks in unison, and sent them flying to opposite ends of the road.

*X and Crono landed on the flooded pavement about twenty yards apart from one another, both bleeding from the mouth along with having various cuts, bruises, and scrapes on whatever skin showed. Crono’s bleeding ‘X’ was smudged and blotted all over his face and hair. Both men staggered to their feet fueled only by adrenaline and willpower at this point. The two beaten and battered fighters gripped their weapons tightly and dashed at each other at full speed for a last fated effort. Dark Crono dashed with both Mastermune blades slightly behind him while X held the Masamune with both hands and had the sword pointed behind him as if he was already in his back swing. Lightning lit up the sky and thunder rumbled even more profoundly as the rain never ceased falling. Seph and Crono both began unleashing battle cries that grew in a crescendo as they sprinted closer and closer. The endless crowd of onlookers stood at the edges of the roadside wanting to know what would happen next, completely ignoring the weather altogether now. Closer and closer they came, and both of them almost seemed to give off a faint green hue as if the Element of Prosperity knew it was going to be complete again. As the two reached striking distance, X slid down to one knee and drove the tip of the Masamune forward just as Crono shot both Mastermune blades out towards X…

*Within centimeters of their fatal blows coming in contact of each other, time all together halted for a single blink of an eye… the clearest vision of Crono spoke sincere and somber… words that only Sephiroth X could hear …

Dark Crono- Forgive me…

*The split second the two fighter’s weapons would have hit, a large bright explosion sent dust and small chunks of gravel and pavement in every direction. The cloud of dust stretched about a dozen yards down each direction of the road. There was a momentary odd calm as the gravel and pavement settled to the ground… the rainstorm had lessened and the large cloud of dust lingered in the air… there was complete silence.

*The masses of people began looking around wondering what just happened, and a few cautiously stepped down from the sidewalks onto the road. The settling dust started to reveal a crater left by the final clash of Sephiroth X and Dark Crono. 

*Zack looked deep into the dust in a nervous bit of anxiety as Bax and Jack did as well. The cloud of dust began to settle further and as it did a single noise could be heard, that of footsteps slowly coming from the crater in the road. Everyone could tell by the sound of the footsteps that it was only one person who was walking out of there… and a cumulative tension built up in the crowd as they awaited the sight of the victor of this horrific battle. Zack felt his hands tense up into tight fists as he heard the sound of the footsteps come closer and closer towards the edge of the dust cloud.

*A man with silver hair slowly walked out of the settling cloud of dust pacing down the roadway... It was Seph. His eyes were closed and his face looked down with an intense state yet. The cuts and bruises on his face looked like they had already healed themselves noticeably and his clothing seemed to be rid of the dust and cuts that came during the battle. Zack grinned softly as he watched Sephiroth X walk past him down the road, although there was no visible sense of jubilation on his face… Zack knew that within Sephiroth X there was celebrating and possibly a sense of mourning as well. Bax and Jack smiled to themselves and gave each other a subtle ‘high-five,’ a human custom Bax was still adapting too. In the Senator’s Zion quarters, the Senator sat at his desk watching this image of X walk out of the cloud of dust, getting a video feed from a Senate informant whom was there to witness the battle. Prodigi had no visual reaction to seeing the victor of the fight as he calmly turned and walked down a darkened alleyway. Far off in the distance, the only form of acknowledgement Azriel gave to the victor of the battle was a slight nod as he stood up from his gargoyle like stance atop the building. Valtiel was not present to witness the victor of the fight for he felt that if he was detected here he still may not be strong enough to fend off everyone here at once… though he felt that would change soon.

*Sephiroth X himself felt a strange kind of invigoration within him as he could feel the unified Element of Prosperity surge through his veins. One of his hands balled into a strong fist as the other gripped the Masamune tightly, he could feel what the Element of Prosperity was doing to his body… he felt stronger than he was before… he felt the strength of the legendary being known as the Warrior of Prosperity… a title he would now possess. As X paced down the road his eyes finally opened up and stared off in the distance at nothing in particular, his eyes flared a bright vivid green one more time just as his eyes opened up. Then finally a slight smirk came to his face… the only sign of happiness he gave off… he did it…he won.

*Seph stopped for a moment and looked upward as the nighttime sky finally broke through the thinning rain clouds. And then with a slight bending of his knees, X leapt into the air and flew off like a bullet into the nighttime sky.

*As the city grew dark and the streets empty, the crater revealed nothing but the two halves of the Mastermune lying alone – void of its master. Off in the distance, the Archangel Zero known as Azriel could see the only remnants left of Dark Crono laying there in the crater… As he stared at them, Azriel extended his right hand towards the crater and recited an ancient language that he enigmatically shared with Crono. Black matter shot out from his hand in both directions as the Mastermune materialized into the double-bladed weapon it once started out as. Azriel calmly gripped the dark instrument and looked at it as thoughts ran deeply into his mind.

*Over the ocean between the Alpha and Beta continents Sephiroth X flew like a jet going to a destination only he knew. Within a few minutes he was flying over the Desert of the Dead… thoughts still running through his mind.

*In a Midgar alleyway memorable to only one single person, Sephiroth X landed looking up at a boarded up and condemned apartment complex. X entered the abandoned building and walked into one specific apartment. He stood there quietly with a somber face, looking in the center of the room where the moon was beaming light down almost onto the very spot he was looking at. Through his eyes he saw himself in this room holding the dying Catrina in his arms, kissing her as he felt the life pass from her. Seph came here to mourn for her one final time… and as his own symbolic way of telling his lost love that he finally avenged her. Seph reached into his coat and pulled out a single red rose, and gazed at it with the most compassionate of eyes. X felt a tear slowly run down his face as his heart missed her dearly, and as Seph closed his eyes he slowly brought the rose to his lips and kissed it softly. Sephiroth X then gently tossed the rose towards the center of the room, where it fell down through the stale air. X nodded to nobody in particular as he then turned and left the room and the complex.

*The single red rose sat there in the center of the room, the moon casting a perfect spotlight over it.

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Victor – Sephiroth X

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