Chrome Spark Chapter 2
By Chris Homer
Rating: 13+ (Lots of blood) Plus a rape incident (although it doesn't show, it is obvious that it had happened)
Characters appearance:
Chromer Barbarus
Red XIII
Reeve
Aeris Gainsborough
Cid Highwind
Vincent Valentine
Heici Wutai
Yuffie Kisaragi
Cloud Strife
Barret Wallace
Marlene Wallace
Tifa Lockheart
Elena
Reno
Rude
Sepiroth (voice)
Lelin Barbarus (Chrome's father)
Tseng (Yes, Tseng. He's alive.)
Zack Gonganga (Zack too? Blimey. And it is not his real second name, again,
a plot developing)
Jessie (Yes, three of them. Sheesh!)
NOTE: In this chapter, and in all of my stories now, you will see a combo-break system, (very similar to the combo magic attacks in Chrono Trigger). Not all of them will be seen at first, but here are a few shown in this story, the whole list will be shown in the next chapter.
Cloud + Tifa: Premium Braver (Cloud jumps in the air to slash his opponent,
Tifa cast's lightning/ice/fire on it for extra power)
Hyper Fist: Tifa's multi-combo limit break with lightning added to it.
OMNIFINISH: Premium Heart/Omni-Slash Combo
Barret + Cid: Double Whammy: Cid tosses an explosive whilst the Satellite Beam ignites it, causing a double bang.
Yuffie + Tifa: Highwave: Yuffie jumps from Tifa's shoulders, and hits a 15 hit kick combo whilst Tifa lays in with her punch combo.
_____________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 2: DEVASTATION
Chromer's head was throbbing. His outbreak of madness suddenly seemed to fuel him for more madness. His face shown an evil outlook, but his mind was wishing otherwise. He could never harm Aeris, never.
But he was forced to. The power of the darkness emerald was overwhelming. Sepiroth's spirit was trapped in it. That was why he threw it at him before he died. He could survive in the darkness. And his control and power was stronger than ever.
And it was directed at him.
Someone would pay for this. And he had an unwelcome feeling it would be Aeris.
He walked like a zombie, to Cosmo Canyon.
He arrived on the outskirts, as the guard on the door blocked his entrance. The guard didn't recgonise Chromer, so tried to block him out.
"Hey, you! What is your purpose in Cosmo Canyon?" said the guard, a spear in his hand and he looked menacing.
Chromer smiled.
A few seconds later, the guard had fallen, unconscious, and blood pouring from the side from the quick slices from the prongs of his Ci'an gun. Chromer needed a warm up. Now it was time to really destroy!
His mind said 'No!' but Sepiroth's influence had control over his nervous system and was controlling him like a puppet. His fist shot into the air and Chromer unleashed an attack which he never wished to do, but Sepiroth was making him do it.
"CHROME SPARK!"
His fist shot down, and a bolt of electricity shuddered into the heart of Cosmo Canyon.
_____________________________________________________________________
In the observatory of Cosmo Canyon, Red was the now leader of the people of Cosmo, although still a teenager at heart, he had many responsibilites, as a person (or creature) who could live as long as he, would not only see his future, but his peoples future.
Aeris had also returned with him to Cosmo, to learn more of her Cetra blood. Since her return, there had been a huge celebration. She had spent some time in Kalm with Tifa, Cloud and Barret, and also in Rocket Town to talk to Shera, who liked Aeris a lot.
After a while, she decided to go to Cosmo, along with Reeve, who considered it his fault that he let her die, after letting her go on the trip to the Temple Of The Ancients with the Keystone, thus, leading to her death in the City itself. Reeve, like many of the males, found Aeris a sight to behold, he thought if the ancients looked like this, he would have a field day, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
When Aeris and Reeve (along with Cait, who still tags along by radio link, even after the AI systems initiated) arrived at Cosmo, Red was happy to welcome them in. Red had made sure they got the hospitality they deserved, and he began helping the two of them to learn about the Cetra.
What she found out was limited, but she did find out about her relatives, including Reshina, her grandmother, and Alctus, her grandfather, who bore Ifalna, Aeris' mother. Ifalna, like Aeris, didn't know she was an Ancient for a while, until she married Proffessor Gast, and they had a child. Not long after, Hojo and his goons apprehends Ifalna, and killed Gast. Aeris felt a twinge of pain after reading that.
Today, she was looking with Red at Cetra destiny. Reeve had been busy training. With him now working without Cait, he had paid Tifa to teach him martial arts. Tifa was happy to oblige, and Reeve every week did pay a visit to Kalm, along with Aeris. Reeve had three weapons, a bo-staff, a straight wooden pole but made from redwood, blessed by a holy man, so it was unbreakable. His second weapon was a kasuri-gami, a metal chain with an iron ball covered in spikes around it. It was sluggish, but could do hefty damage. The third, and most reliable, was a Mako materia gun, like the one Vincent gave Tails during their last adventure.
That was the situation when........
"Cosmo leader. The city is under attack!" said one of the young guards, to Red in the observatory.
"What happened? Calm down." said the lion-like warrior.
"Well, I don't know. All I know is that some sort of electricity blast in the centre of town caused infra-red energy waves throughout the town, destroying buildings. Then, at least 22 of our guards have been killed or mortally wounded. Our supplies are running low. What can we do?"
"Who's attacking us?" said Red.
"Well......."
_____________________________________________________________________
After he contacted Cloud on the PHS, Red, Aeris and Reeve had gone to investigate. The description of the man who had attacked Cosmo had fitted the description of Chromer, Reeve said he couldn't trust him, as they went out.
"I hope Cloud and company come soon." said Red. "If something has happened to Chromer, we have to stop him."
"That punk! I knew he was a lone soldier. Well, I'm going to take him out and pull the shit right from underneath him!" said Reeve.
"Please, this man is from the same power as Cloud. Something maybe troubling him, like when Cloud went to attack me." said Aeris, always the optimist.
"Something will be bothering him all right, like my gun when I shove it right up his ass!" said Reeve, losing his good nature at this point.
_____________________________________________________________________
Back at Kalm.......
Cloud, Tifa and Barret, along with Yuffie and Heici, who had arrived by Chocobo, were standing outside the Highwind, looking up.
"Come on you dumb-asses! Let's get ourselves in gear!" said Cid, the propellers of the mighty Highwind hovering above them, the noise getting to the travellers below.
Vincent looked at his companion. His Death Penalty by his side. "The evil inside of Chromer is not of his fault." he said, quietly so no-one could hear him.
Yuffie belched.
Heici noticed the change of look. "What's the matter?" he said.
"I've just remembered why I hated these adventures!" she said.
"Oh yeah, you told me you got a.....trifle airsick. No prob. I'll stay by ya." said Heici.
"Oh no. You're not getting me on that thing again. It was bad enough the first time. I don't think........"
Suddenly, Yuffie found herself up in the air, on Heici's shoulder.
"HEY! PUT ME DOWN!" she screamed.
"Let me think about that......NO!" said Heici, as they entered the airship.
"YOU BASTARD!" she screamed.
Cloud was the next one on, along with Barret.
"Sorry Marlene. I have to leave you here." said Barret.
"No, daddy. I'm not leaving you here." said Marlene, nuzzling up to her father. Barret smiled.
"It's too dangerous...." she started, but then Tifa interjected.
"Barret, let her come here. She'll be alright, I swear to god that I will not let her out of my sight. I promise."
Barret usually would have disagreed, but there was something in the way that Tifa said that that made his heart warm. She seemed so damn sure. He looked at the four year old girl resting by his side.
He picked her up. "O.K, kid. You can come." said Barret. "You better keep your promise, I can't live without her, as damned I will be her protector!"
So, everyone was on board for Cosmo. But what was going on as they flew out?
_____________________________________________________________________
On the airship, the positions were the same as before. Cloud watching out of the window, Tifa and Barret by his side, Cid shouting at them to keep their damn voices down, Vincent in the back, and in the background, Yuffie was retching again, Heici just outside the entrance. Marlene was burying her head into her father's chest. After the initial thrills of the Highwind, she suddenly found herself being exhausted, and practically passed out in her father's chest.
Vincent walked up to Cloud.
"Cloud. There may be something you may wish to know." said Vincent.
"Yeah?" he said.
"When the emeralds of Ci'an were thrown into Chromer's chest, to protect him, I had Lucresia to look for any possible return of Sepiroth. There was one possibility. The Darkness Emerald was also thrown into his chest.......and Sepiroth may have never returned to the plane of the 'other side.'"
"Meaning?" said Cloud, although confused, he also sounded worried.
"Meaning, that Sepiroth could have entered the Darkness Emerald and it was somehow absorbed by Chromer. The Darkness Emerald is an evil thing in itself, but with Sepiroth in it, it can control Chromer to being a pure being of hate, and I have a feeling that it may be to destroy us."
Cloud had grown thoughtful during what Vincent said. Not just of intrigue, but of fear as well. Could Sepiroth return? But h.....
Oh god, no.
"We have to get to Cosmo NOW!" he screamed at Cid.
"Why the %!£* did you shout at me! I'm not %$*&£$ deaf! Why in such a hurry?" said Cid.
"I've just....reliased....what may....happen." he said, quivering.
"What?" said Tifa.
"Sepiroth may returned by Chromer's power.....but the only way to do it.....is......"
"WHAT?" they all said.
Chromer took a deep breath, and with a tear in his eye, spoke, softly.
"....to kill Aeris."
_____________________________________________________________________
Aeris was running towards the centre of Cosmo Canyon, as people were fleeing, another guard seemed to fly over their heads, as a sickening crunch was heard as he smashed against a wall.
"How powerful is he?" said Aeris.
"He killed Sepiroth. That answer your question?" said Red.
"I don't care how powerful he is. I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" said Reeve.
The three of them stopped as Chromer was in front of him, against three guards. With one slash of his wing, all of them were down, and although hurt, weren't dead, and quickly scampered off, especially as the cavalry had arrived.
"Ah, my friends. Welcome to the blood pit. I hope you will sacrifice yourselves to my power. Who shall I start with?" said Chromer, with a voice of fear and desire.
"It shall be me, dickhead!" said Reeve. "I knew you were an asshole, and this proves it! I'm going to high-stick you into next week!"
Chromer's mind thought 'Huh, thanks!' But then the seriousness of him destroying Reeve came into play.
Reeve lunged in with his staff, trying to strike Chromer on the head. Chromer parried it with his left sickle, and with his right, came down on Reeve. Reeve jumped back and swung again. Chromer grabbed it, and threw Reeve to the other side of the canyon. Reeve cast cure from his materia gun, and hummed to himself.
"BOLT STAVE!" he shouted.
Suddenly a bolt of lightning came at his hand and went into his staff. The holy powers from the staff had given him more attacks, and this was his favourite. Suddenly, the staff blasted a huge amount of electricity at Chromer, and a thundering amount of sparks and smoke came from it.
"Ha! How do you like your bad guy? Fried satueed or...."
He stopped as Chromer stood in front of him, unfased. He laughed at him.
"So, the Shinra man has learned some new tricks. It's a shame that I will have to give you a taste of your own medicine."
"BRAHMA BOLT!"
Chromer's fist glew in a thousand different colours. Suddenly, Reeve was mesmorized by the colour. Then, Chromer threw the ball at Reeve. It entered the body as the power of the Ci'an flowed through him. Suddenly, Reeve shrieked and flew 1000 feet in the air and landed hard.
"REEVE!" screamed Aeris, quickly cast Healing Wind on him before he died. She did it in the nick of time, but Reeve was very badly hurt, blood poured from his arm.
Red snarled at Chromer.
"For the man who killed Sepiroth, I find your attitude a little off the edge! Prepare to feel the force of the guardian of Cosmo Canyon!" said Red.
"Oh, I'm scared!" said Chromer.
Red lunged at Chromer, claws tearing. Red was quicker than Chromer, and evaded Chromer's slashes much better than Reeve did. This frustrated Chromer more than ever, and Red kept luring him out and repeatedly hit Blood Fangs and Stardust Ray. Chromer looked a bit banged up, but he pointed his Mako prong at Red. Blasts of fire, ice and lightning all came out and hit Red square on. Red was dazed but not down. After curing himself, Red launched his COSMO MEMORY attack on Chromer. The energy of the limit break shone around him as the hits came in, but Chromer was still standing. Chromer smirked as FullCure enveloped him.
"RING OF OBIDAMA!"
Chromer raised his hand and a circle of monk's rings surrounded the lion guardian of Cosmo Canyon. Suddenly, it turned into a pillar of lightning. It surrounded red in a furry of light and the lion screamed as the pain of the triple Bolt3 spell spell surrounded him. He was somehow, still moving, though. He quickly cured himself, but whilst that was happening.....
"DEMI-CHROME!"
Chromer's fist shot into the ground, his mind didn't want this to happen, but Sepiroth was taking advantage of the situation. A black mist covered in explosive dust shot into the ground, aimed at Red's heart. Red suddenly found all his energy being sapped from him. Then, the bang came, the one that would kill him. He closed his eyes and waited for the feeling to come.......
.....it didn't.
Red looked up to see the rod of Aeris up and had in fact cast Life2 on Red, plus regen on both Red and Reeve. She turned to look at Chromer.
"Why are you doing this?" the chestnut-haired girl asked.
Chromer looked at her and his mind thought 'God, Sepiroth. Don't make me do this!' But the power inside him made him lunge at Aeris, his wing aimed at her heart. His mission was to assassinate the last remaining Ancient, so that Sepiroth could return back to the earth.
His wing struck with as much force as he could, but he saw Aeris still standing, the magical barrier she had cast seemed to be what had stopped it. Chromer unleashed at Aeris with as many psychic attacks as he knew, but Aeris was fending them off easily, and her healing capabilities were a real pain in the ass.
Chromer had cast a few psychic spells on, and had cast some materia and SUMMON on Aeris, but she seemed to either block or counter. Aeris swung the Princess Guard at Chromer's legs. It was then Chromer/Sepiroth reliased he hadn't cast wall.
Shit.
Chromer fell down. Aeris cast Guardian Star on herself, and was temporarily invincible. She swung her rod like a demon, knowing something happened to Chromer, the person who had saved her, and she was going to find out what. She cast Sleepel on Chromer hoping to find out. Chromer dozed off, but Aeris had a feeling that it wouldn't last long.
She bent down, touched his chest plate and concerntrated, all her energy inside of her. She then felt something.
"Oh, God." she uttered.
At that point, Chromer woke up, and grabbed her throat. He picked Aeris up over her head and threw her down. Aeris, cursing, reliasing that her powers had all gone. Chromer cast Wall, then cast Abomination, as a series of swords surrounded the young ancient. The magic swords went through her easily and she fell down hard, breathless, hardly any energy to cast a spell.
Chromer walked over to her. His sickle gleaming next to her heart.
"You played a good game my dear. But now, I must end your life. No hard feelings." He raised it.
"NO, Chromer, you are being controlled. Fight it, fight the madness, fight Sepiroth!" she said.
At this point, Chromer stopped as his sickle was aiming for Aeris' heart. Sepiroth was willing him to strike her, but Chromer concerntrated his will to avoid the blow.
"Aer..is.....run.....don't come near me....please...."
Aeris, with renewed strength, got up, as Chromer unleashed the blow, missing. Red and Reeve however, didn't know what Aeris knew and lunged in, trying to rip out his neck.
Chromer flipped them both with a martial arts throw, preparing to kill them again. But he stopped as the noise of engines came through.
_____________________________________________________________________
At this point, three other figures had entered Cosmo as well.
"Why the hell are we here?" screamed the first, a female.
"Because we are going to strike at their weakest point, that Ancient. If we get her, the others will surely have to follow. We can dismantle them one at a time." said the second, a young male.
The third one, an older male, remained silent.
The Turks had entered Cosmo, discovering Aeris' wereabouts. After they were returned by Vincent, Reno had thought of nothing but revenge. Even though they avoided conflict in the raid of Midgar, they are still an organisation for money, and the two groups were at each others throats again. Reno and Rude seemed as ruthless as ever, but Elena was a little more tentative.
They decided to find where Aeris was. They figured her to be the weakest power wise, and as the most optimistic member and cheerful member, it was deduced that Cloud would soon come after her.
Elena felt a twinge of pain. As a Turk, she was to obey without personal feelings or conduct. But her maturnity struck her, as she remembered when she was saved by members of AVALANCHE during their trip to Wutai. This probably wouldn't happened if Tseng was still around.
Tseng. Another reason why she felt a bit down and out. She blamed Cloud for Tseng's death, but reliased it wasn't his fault. Sepiroth was the one with the blade, and Tseng did show some trust in Avalanche, by handing them the Keystone. Perhaps she would try and act with the Turk's law, but that didn't mean she had to agree with it.
Reno smiled at the building in front, ready to take Aeris by surprise........then stopped.
It looked like the real cavalry had arrived.
_____________________________________________________________________
Chromer was surrounded by adverseries. The Highwind had dropped down and Cloud was the first to slash him. Tifa and Barret soon came by their side. Vincent, Heici, Yuffie and Cid all soon left as well. Their weapons ready, but Cloud was a bit more defensive. Now he knew what had happened to Chromer, he didn't want to risk killing him, for the reason of why Sepiroth controlled him. His only hope, according to find, was to remove the chestplate, get the Ci'an materia, and destroy the Darkness emerald. But he had a feeling that Chromer wouldn't let him borrow it.
Quickly, various attacks went towards Chromer, but it seemed that it wasn't Chromer's moves retailiating now, it was Sepiroth's. The wing slashes, plus drain attacks were coming from him, a wall spell had been cast, and he cast something very similar to a super nova on them all.
Heici ran at Chromer and put him in a headlock.
"Man, get a hold of yourself. This mother %*%£%^ inside of you isn't half the man you are. Fight it!"
Suddenly, Heici felt a Shadow Flare envelop him. He screamed as he flew back.
"Foolish mortal. Feel the wrath of the Chrome. WIND GALE!"
Suddenly, Chromer's wings went straight. The wind gale spell cast and the force of the hurricane flew many of the warriors into a wall, unable to get up, unconscious, but alive. The only ones that remained were Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Cid and Yuffie.
"I think it maybe a time to panic?" suggested Yuffie.
"No, I think it a time to try out the combo system Godo taught us? Remember?" said Cloud.
They all nodded. For a month in Wutai, Godo had taught the AVALANCHE some of the move of the pagoda gods and the Terabi warriors. These include to use materia in a physical attack to make it more powerful, and to do many combos at once. Now was the time to use them.
Cid and Barret seperated, as tid Cloud and Tifa, with Yuffie acting as back up.
Chromer looked on, wondering what was going to happen.
Suddenly, Cid threw a hyper-grenade at Chromer and Barret pointed to the sky. "DOUBLE WHAMMY!"
The Satellite Beam From above aimed at the grenade, and the double blast surrounded Chromer flying him away. He was badly hurt. Where the hell did that come from?
_____________________________________________________________________
Whilst this was going on, The Turks were watching in awe. They had forgotten about their mission, otherwise they would have grabbed the unconscious Aeris.
_____________________________________________________________________
Chromer had to recover quickly but Cloud and Tifa also went into a combo attack, with Cloud running and jumping into a slash, but Tifa had cast Tetra Flare on the sword and the affect ran through Chromer sapping his energy. He cast a Cure on himself and then cast "DEADLY RAY!"
From his hand, a beam of laser energy hit Barret full on the chest. The rebounding ray caught Cid as well. It sapped out all of their energy and they slumped down.
Chromer looked ahead at Yuffie, who hadn't moved. What the hell ws she.....
Suddenly, she leapt onto Tifa's shoulders. Standing on the strong skeleton of Tifa Lockheart, she shouted "HIGHWAVE!"
Suddenly, without warning, Yuffie jumped off Tifa and just as quick, Tifa ran towards Chromer. Chromer, couldn't block both blocked Tifa's incoming punches, but not Yuffie's bicycle kick, which connected 15 times in the face. To add insult, Tifa hit he final palm punch, her strong punch, dead in the chest. Chromer, was practically out on his feet. A high five from the two girls was suddenly interrupted.......
Chromer had cast "CARLOS FIRE!" A spell, which was a higher version of the Ifrit Summon, as the fire beast did a cannonball spin, aiming it attack at Yuffie.
The young ninja was imbeded in a ball of fire, and couldn't find the Leviathan materia to stop it. Shit! She reliased she gave it and the ice materia to Heici. She couldn't move and the heat was unbearable. If she didn't fry, she would pass out from dehydration. She couldn't survive much longer.
Cloud and Tifa looked at each other, with a 'It's all up to us' look.
Cloud cast Ultima whilst Tifa cast Meteor and Demi3 in quick succession. The Wall spell Chromer had cast was still in affect, but the sheer forcefulness of the attack quickly weakened it. Chromer retaliated with psychic attacks of light to drain their energy but then Cloud cast 'Ultimate End' From the Knights of the Round materia, and the wall was destroyed.
Before Chrome could react, Tifa ran at Chromer and Cloud cast Bolt3 onto Tifa's fist. Concerntrating all of her power in it, she hit the beat rush, somersault, waterkick, meteodrive, dolphin blow, meteo strike and premium heart, all with lightning power attached. Chromer was severely dazed.
But Tifa, on added addrenelin, cried out "OMNIFINISH" and repeated the attack again, but at the same time, Cloud ran in and hit the Omnislash, slash after slash and hit after hit came upon the warrior. Chromer could do nothing but absorb the punishment. He closed his eyes........
Tifa and Cloud looked at their handiwork. Chromer was down. They had done it! But what of their friends. Yuffie was being charboiled and their other friends were as still as death. Tifa got out her life materia, but then.......
"Heh. Heh." That was not Chromer's voice. It was Sepiroth's.
Chromer rose, but it was the evil blood thirsty grin of Sepiroth which caught the mouth of Chromer.
"You may have won this battle, but you have lost the war. It is the end for you and your friends, as I unleash this att....."
"No.....what are you doing?" Tifa and Cloud held each other confused. It sounded like Sepiroth was talking to himself, battling against himself rather.
"I won't let you kill them." said the Chromer voice. "Oh, you are going to!" said Sepiroth. "Oh......yeurgggh!" screamed Chromer.
"LIFE INFINITY!" screamed Chromer.
"NO!" screamed Sepiroth.
A glowing red and green light flooded everyone that was down, including Tifa and Cloud. Suddenly, movement from Barret caught Tifa's eye. Then Red, then Aeris. It wasn't long before everyone was moving. Even Yuffie was free from the fire barrier.
Then, the second phase. Energy started to flow into them all. Not only were they all back to life, their energy was renewed, including Cloud and Tifa.
"My friends........forgive me.......Sepiroth is making me do this......YAAAGH!" said Chromer.
Chromer then flew into the air, back into the Sepiroth voice "JENOVA BOMB/SUPER NOVA/CHROME SPARK COMBO!"
A huge glowing sphere revolved around Chromer as he disappeared. However, the sphere dropped on Cosmo, the power of the combined attack was about to cause devastation to Cosmo.
Cloud, was the first one to react. "RUN!"
Obediently, including Red, who with a tear in his eye of the damage that Chromer/Sepiroth had and was about to inflict, ran in various directions, all attempting to get out of Cosmo.
The Turks, still were in shock of watching this, but then also ran. However, during the explosion, Elena was thrown back and seperated from the turks.
"Elena!" screamed Rude, breaking a silence. Even Reno, who couldn't give a rat's ass about anyone was also worried.
Elena was thrown into a step into the observatory. She didn't know where she was, she had passed out briefly from the explosion, but without any insentive, or for that matter strength, she went into the observatory.
She looked at the space module above her. She thought "What the hell, if I'm gonna die, I might as well enjoy it." She was always interested in astronomy and wanted to visit Cosmo for interest but was afraid too because of people noticing the Turk look.
She flicked the switch, expecting to see the space module. But instead, she was still in darkness. Then, she was in even more, as someone struck her in the head from behind. Then, nothing.
_____________________________________________________________________
"We have to get out of here!" screamed Reno.
"But what about Elena?" said Rude.
"Forget her. She's been a pain in the ass far too long. Time she got out of her own mess." Reno said, although by the way he said it, he seemed worried tioo. Quickly, he added, "Beside, our asses will be fried, if we don't hurry soon."
Rude couldn't argue behind that logic. He ran along with Reno, but kept looking back if to see Elena......
......instead to bump into Tifa.
"Ouch!" They both said, colliding. It was then Rude reliased who it was.
"Tifa!" He said, with a mixture of hate and lust. Tifa responded with a snarl.
Reno pulled out his nightstick but then it was flung away from his hand by a shot from Vincent's death penalty. Rude had his gun out but Tifa quickly kicked it out of his hands. Reno swung at Vincent, but Yuffie got him in a chicken-wing from behind before bridging back in a german suplex, smashing his neck. Tifa had kicked Rude in the chest before doing a neck snap and a sitting drop kick to the back of Rude's neck. (By the way, if you don't know any of these terms, write to me at the usual adress and I will explain them.)
After a brief scuffle, Reno and Rude were tied up. Cloud spoke to them.
"O.K. Why the hell were you at Cosmo? What were you up too?" said Chromer.
"Nothing." replied Rude.
"Did you know that Chromer would turn against us? Or perhaps you were the ones who orchestrated it!" said Cloud.
"No, that was not what we was gonna do!" screamed Reno, then immediately regretted it, because he practically gave away that they were up to something.
"Oh...." snarled Red, his hot breath inches away from Reno's face. "......then what were you up to. Going to destroy the scholar's information.....or destroy the town itself.....my town.....now destroyed....."
"Calm down, Red." said Aeris, putting a hand on Red's back. Red snarled once more, but then went back.
"O.K, we'll talk." said Reno.
Reno began to explain what had brought them to Cosmo and that they indeed wanted to stop AVALANCHE in the way of kidnapping Aeris. Cloud drew his sword but then Reno proceeded to tell about what happened to Elena.
Cloud had grown thoughtful. Suddenly, he struck gold.
"Listen, Reno. I don't like you, you don't like me. Capiche?" Reno nodded. "However, it looks like everything may be linked in one way or another. If Elena is still alive in Cosmo, then we will search. However, you must make a promise......"
Reno groaned, having a feeling he would not like this.
"......that you or Rude, must not attempted to even harm one hair on Aeris. If she had even had one hair out of place, your throats will be hanging on my shelf." Cloud said, his voice getting louder by the end.
"So, what do you say?" said Cloud.
Reno sighed. "I guess we have no choice. I accept to your terms. Now can you let us go?"
Cloud whistled to himself as he and his friends slowly walked away.
"Hey!" screamed Reno.
Cloud smiled. Cid, Barret, Tifa and Yuffie stiffled a chuckle.
"Damn. Tried to get away with it. Oh well." And proceeded to cut the bonds.
_____________________________________________________________________
Elena awoke in a cell, but it was cell with electric bars. The whole thing seemed to be running on computer. Who knows what was going to happen?
Her ears detecting laughter from somewhere. She turned, careful not to put her hands on the bars, and saw a towering man, got to be near 7 foot, laughing to himself.
Suddenly, the man turned and saw Elena looking at her. "Well, well, I've grabbed another beauty here. And what might be your name, girl?"
Elena was insulted. She was 26, and a tough female Turk, and she was being treated like some slut of the Honeybee Inn. Looking at the man, she saw he was quite old, around 50, but he had some manicial power that could have been compared to Sepiroth.
"Child......speak to me!" he shouted. Elena spoke.
"Elena, lovely name. Like the other one I have got. But I better explain a few things first."
"I am Lelin Barbarus. The father of Chromer Barbarus. And he is doing a great job for my friend Sepiroth, isn't he. He has destroyed Cosmo, should have killed AVALANCHE, and has brought you to me. I was in cosmo, as I tracked down where he was. You see, I have been hiding in this secret reactor underwater, under Mideel, which is my hometown. When Sepiroth took command, I infused my son with mako cels, but his reaction...was....how shall I put it.....less than pleasing. He was deemed a reject, but he has proved them wrong! I went into hiding here after I was shot down in one of the subs after a master materia. I crashed into a trapdoor, and I quickly used a pnematic drill to drill underwater, a big one mind you, after I returned to the surface, I was the only one who survived, and since then, I have conserved my power to destroying AVALANCHE, the ones who shot me down and destroyed Sepiroth. But now, Sepiroth is living in my son's soul and controlling them, and between them, they will do my bidding."
Elena shook, but showed no fear.
"Since Sepiroth's death, I have decided to recruit, some......bargaining chips for ACALANCHE. I found souls trapped between the plane of heaven and the plane of hell, and using my own Ci'an magic, I revived them. They are now my slaves.....each one is a bargaining chip for one of them. One of them, should....be an interest to you." He pressed a button on his cell.
Elena looked up, and when she saw the man, in a white suit, bare footed, half-asleep, she gasped in awe. "No. It couldn't be."
"Tseng."
The leader of the Turks, who had died by Sepiroth's sword, saw Elena, and immediately recgonised who it was. He desperately fought the urge to speak or touch her, and quickly resume his trance.
"What the hell have you done to him?" she screamed.
"Relax, my dear. He is fine, but with a Mako injection, he is useless at anything. He is my slave and obeys by my will. A regular slave."
"Onto door number 2. Zack Gonganga." said Elena.
Elena gasped. Another warrior who died at Sepiroth's hand, was slashing away at a metal chi dummy. Elena knew Zack's parents, but never saw him herself.
"Zack is a fine warrior. As powerful as Cloud and knows all his tricks. I have programmed him to do my bidding as well. My warrior slave."
"And door number 3."
The third door revealed an auburn headed woman, about 28. At first, Elena didn't recgonise her in the corner. But then, she remembered, she was one of the first members of AVALANCHE, during the bomb raid....
Lelin interrupted her thoughts. "This is Jessie. I am unkown of her last name, but her slave needs are.....for my own personal delight. A se...."
"How cruel are you?" screamed Elena. "You are torturing them all. Personally, I never like AVALANCHE, but that is inhuman."
"She doesn't care. She doesn't have any thoughts at all. Don't worry, you will soon join them." He pulled out a cylinder rod shining with bright lights. "A memory scrambler. Enjoy."
Then there was white.
_____________________________________________________________________
Red was real pissed about what happened, every now and then he was comforted by Aeris, but the pain inside would not stop. Why Cosmo?
Red had ordered every local fire preventer in the area to stop the caranage. Very little of the area was savalgable, and it was very unlikely that Elena had survived if she was trapped in there.
After about 1 hour, Cloud hadn't found anything. Then......
"Hey, Cloud." It was Cid. He and Vincent was in the observatory.
Within a few minutes, everyone was in the observatory area. They all stopped to see what they had found.
A piece of dark blue cloth.
"Definetly, Elena's." said Rude.
Reno grabbed it off him. "Whoever the bastard who got her is, he is going to have his nightstick shoved up his ass?"
"Why, Reno? Do you care or something?" Yuffie teased.
"Shut up brat."
Then, Cloud saw something else. A crusted jewel on the floor. He picked it up.
"Does anyone know whose this is?" said Cloud.
At first no-one knew whose it was. Then Heici got it and looked at it pecularly. Then he sighed.
"What is it Heici?" said Yuffie.
"Lelin."
"What?" said Tifa.
"Lelin. Chromer's father. This is his jewel of his index finger. He had this since I joined SOLDIER. He is the one who has taken Elena."
Reno groaned.
"You wanna call this truce a bit longer, now it looks like we are all after the same thing?"
Cloud groaned.
"I suppose so. To destroy Sepiroth, we may have to find Lelin."
This was going to be a long day.
.
IN CHAPTER 3: CAPTURE AND TORTURE
The four slaves attempt to speak to each other. Tseng and Elena soon recover their memories, but Zack and Jessie aren't as lucky.
Lelin and Zack attack Cloud. Barret tries to bring Jessie back to an understanding, until Chromer spoils the party......
.