R1: Influx of Beasts

[ZaCloud]

(OOC: OK… Y’all know I’m pretty blah and my memory sucks very very very badly… So I have no idea how good this post will be. Not very, I can say that, and it’s gotta be brief cuz I need more info. Regardless, we GOTTA try to get this puppy rompin’ again! So I’m going to type it and post it! RAH!!!

Btw, the R1 is for Revival [since I don't remember the last chapter number]. This can be changed as needed.)

Zack gaped up at the giant worm in astonishment. Never had he expected to actually see a creature of the sort Bax had earlier battled. He had hoped it would be the only one… How many of these things are there? Or was that other one invincible? God I hope not!

“I’m NEVER going ANYWHERE without Fjalar again!” Zack exclaimed with frustration. The young man was now without the sword’s awesome weight and strength, its defensive width, and the two elemental stones. He twirled the sword Prodigi had lent to him and took a defensive stance, eyes narrowed at the monster as he asked, “Can I rent this for free one more time, Feather-man? I can’t bitch-slap that thing to death.”

Prodigi reloaded his pistols and gave a half-chuckle. “Yes, go ahead.”

The blonde tried to quickly gauge the enemy. Bax had not really told him about the worm, since he had thought it to be dead thus such details had seemed unnecessary. But now, it would be nice to know what weaknesses it had. “What should we do, Bax?” he asked the Phoeniyan king, looking to him for advice on this adversary the likes of which he had once before stricken down.

[Shadow Phoenix]

Bax stood there in a relative calm, sizing up the enemy with a cool and collective gaze. He reached behind him and put his hand on his sword, grabbing onto it and holding on tight. With his left hand, he reached up and reset the reflective sunglasses over his eyes. The worm reared up high in the air and let out that horrible screech deep from within its bowels. A smile crept over Bax's face.
"I thought I killed you already," he whispered.

Bax wrenched one of his swords out with one smooth motion and held it in front of him as it began to glow yellow and orange. He moved his right leg back and lifted the sword up as flames began to swirl around the metal.
"This might be a reincarnation or a completely different beast. Either way, I killed the first one for sure. I blew its head clean off."

Bax reached back and pulled out the other sword, the slight grin disappearing from his face. "As to how to kill it, it's pretty resilient. I cut it up a lot from the inside and the outside. It's thick-skinned, has razor-sharp teeth, and acidic insides. The only thing I can think of is to destroy it. Completely. Sever the head, blow it up, do something. But it won't go down easily."

Bax smiled briefly. His English had suddenly become a lot better since Keldira had inhabited him. His brain fluttered and fizzed with knowledge. New knowledge. So fresh that he felt like a newly inked book. Just waiting to be opened up so that the passages within could be tapped. It was time for a new chapter.

Bax looked behind him and noted the two behind him. "Follow me, but be careful. It likes to go underground. Stay away from buildings."

Bax surged forward and leapt up to greet the worm 'face to face.'
"Good to see you again, ugly," he hollered above the screech. He slashed both swords down and caught the thing hard on the head, biting down and then savagely swiping out. He kicked off and the worm roared, gnashing its teeth and trying to swim through the air to greet Bax. Bax flipped through the air and concentrated, preparing to hurl a fireball at the beast. Oh how it hated fire...

[prodigi]

Prodigi stood staring at the great beasts thick skin. He looked down at his guns and suddenly felt inadequate. He could feel Zack’s eyes upon him and quickly changed his face to looking confident. He placed a pair of silver-reflective sunglass over his eyes and turned to Zack with a smile.

“Where’d you get those?” Zack asked.

Prodigi thought for a moment. “I… I really don’t know,” he answered slightly confused himself. Zack and Prodigi heard a great caw from above and looked up to see a black dot in the sky. Zack looked from the dot to Prodigi.

“Why is she here?” he asked Prodigi, referring to the crow above.

“I don’t know…” Prodigi replied frowning.

As the stared at the black dot, it seemed to split into two, and one half came tumbling from the sky, end over end, before slamming into the ground before Zack. Once the dust and debris settled Prodigi and Zack stared at the great sword, which was now wedged deeply into the ground. Zack sheathed his shorter sword and walked up and, with ease, withdrew the enormous blade from the ground, and twirled it effortlessly before bringing it down hard before himself.

“Fjalar,” Prodigi mumbled.

Zack turned to Prodigi and offered him the smaller sword. “You might need it,” he said.

Prodigi shook his head and reached into his trench coat, pulling out a hefty 4 round rocket launcher. Zack’s eyes widened. “Where do you fit all that stuff?” Zack asked. “I dunno,” came Prodigi’s reply, his face dumbfounded. He took aim at the great worm and fired. No sooner had the rocket left it’s casing, it swung around to the left and headed straight for Bax. Bax screamed before hurling a fireball at the rocket and watching it explode in mid air. Bax stared daggers at Prodigi. Prodigi grinned goofily and muttered, “whoops, must be on heat seek…”

[ZaCloud]

So many questions, not enough answers... But now Zack had a great chance against their adversary with his beloved weapon in his hands, and Prodigi now possessed superior firepower. Superior firepower which almost disassembled Bax! Zack thought he would fall over at the little "oops" exposition about the gun's setting.

However, he regained his composure and took one more long look at the giant worm. It was so huge, so insanely huge. Battling it would be much like trying to topple a skyscraper, except it could move on its own and crush him if he wasn’t careful. Part of him brought this realization to the surface, echoing with countless voices insisting that he would be of no use in this endeavor. However, the voices were quickly silenced first by what had become his instinctive defense of necessary confidence. Then followed by true, authentic realizations: Zack was stronger than he once was. He had his sturdy weapon with him now, a weapon with some unnamed importance to it. He had Prodigi and Bax by his side, both strong and courageous friends who believed in him. And he had some of Sephiroth’s own blood coursing through his veins, given as a token of trust and confidence.

He would forsake none of these. He would not be useless in this battle.

And so, Zack was the first to break the bonds of gravity and rush straight toward the gargantuan enemy. His spiky hair, much of it still in a ponytail, was nonetheless forced to whip freely in the wind of his motion. His loose jacket flailed behind him like a banner already proclaiming victory. As Zack raced forward, Fjalar moved down and to the left, the very tip gliding just over the ground and severing the sparse weeds poking between cracks in the pavement. The giant worm noticed his approach, but didn’t seem to concerned over something so small. It initiated a bit of a bluff, emitting a loud, gurgling wheeze, expecting the insect to turn tail in fear.

But Zack’s rush lost no momentum, and he leaped upward until his feet could catch purchase on the creature’s rough skin; he had gone from leaping up, to running up its trunk. In the process, he brought his sword up and to the right, screaming with effort and rage as the blade glowed with blue mist and burrowed into the thick hide. A long gash was left in Zack’s rising path, bringing forth foul-smelling fluid.

The monster’s belching roar grew higher in pitch and more unstable in pain and anger. Normally, it would have brought its body down in reflex to crush the attacker, but it had enough sense to know that jamming this sharp object in further would not be pleasant. It quickly brought its head down to the ground and contorted its rear half, bringing its tail around to brush this nuisance off. Zack was too light on his feet, however, and as soon as the source of his footing began to plummet, he leaped off in the zero-gravity gap. Now the tail which had intended to wipe him out was a new foothold as he landed on it. He did not attack this new exposed area, however, for he knew what was coming. Sure enough, it flung the opposite way, hurling Zack through the air toward a group of tall stone buildings.

Having been prepared, Zack was tucked into a compact ball as he was catapulted outward, calmly taking in the upcoming structures until he saw a building that was the right height and distance away for him to land on. Smoothly opening up so now all limbs were outstretched and his back straight, he flipped gracefully and tossed Fjalar at the flat roof moments before coming down in a sliding crouch, catching his sword’s handle once more before either of them stopped moving.

Take advantage o’ that, guys, he thought, hoping Prodigi and/or Bax were moving in on the creature in its moment of strained exposure; it was caught in the middle of drastic movements and thus has surely lost its bearings for the moment. Zack was ready to rush in again as soon as he would catch his footing, and cause real damage if there was anything left by then. But even distracting and wounding the creature could be of great help to the others, so he felt a moment of satisfaction.

[Shadow Phoenix]

While Bax glared angrily at Prodigi for his mishap, he knew that there was only so much time he could afford to be distracted from the worm before. Unfortunately for Bax, explosions were generally pure concussive energy and not flames, so they still hurt like hell. Prodigi would have to be more careful with his bombs and missiles, wherever the hell he got them.

Bax recovered his bearings quickly and saw what Zack was doing. If the spiky-haired kid had not leapt at the worm--Bax might have been slapped out of the air.
"Thank you, Zack," he whispered as he floated to the ground a little out of the way and made a few hand motions, creating a fire seal that hung in the air. Bax felt his energy coursing through him and then flowing to the ground beneath. He flung his hands forward and then slowly lowered them to the ground before him, kneeling down and bringing the fire seal down with him. It settled down on the ground and began to pulsate red and orange, cracking the ground a little bit between Bax and the worm in tiny fissures. Zack had landed moments before and the worm was obviously oblivious.

Bax smiled. The beast looming before them had no clue what was coming. In a few moments the area around it would be consumed in a column of fire shooting straight up towards the heavens. But Bax still needed more time.
"Prodigi, Zack," Bax breathed, his accent hanging heavy in the air, "Distract it for another moment."
Bax's arms began to glow red and circle with fire, creeping up around him in slow, flickering spirals. His deep crimson eyes dilated and turned an even deeper shade of red (as if it were possible). Bax's flaming mane scorched backwards and up in flowing tendrils that licked at the air like thirsty dogs at a stream of water. He began to quake and the ground turned red as the fissures between Bax and the worm filled with flames.

All the while, Bax's mouth moved and murmured, his tongue clicking rapidly against his teeth as he murmured a spell.
"Draca Roglia, Jazol Ulawino,*" Bax thought to himself as the grimace on his face contorted to a smile. "I used something similar on your master. I think it's fitting."


Note: *Red Flame, Ground Inferno = have fun, kiddies

[ZaCloud]

(OOC: Post edited, I'll have the old text in beige and the new in default for your convenience. Prodigi-san, I asked if you wanted me to include your attack plan, but have gotten no answer, so for now I'll leave it out unless you give me the ok and I'll make yet another revision. I originally wrote it in anyway so a simple copy-paste will be all I have to do, no problem, up to you. I don't want to steal your thunder needlessly. ^_^;; )

Having regained his balance, Zack rushed to the edge of the building and leaped atop the concrete barrier surrounding the roof to survey the situation. He looked to the ground on his left and saw Bax beginning an impressive move of some sort. He could tell this would take a while, as most good things do. He smirked a bit; good ol’ Bax could always be counted on to come through in a pinch, with awesome power. The fissures in the ground seemed to be twinkling like Christmas lights he had seen from a distance when he was younger. This and Bax’s glowing hair made him visible; Prodigi’s dark appearance was too hard to pinpoint from so far away.

Zack looked back toward the giant squirming beast, which was still emitting frightfully loud bellows in anger as it brought its head about to find a new target. Seeing as how Bax was rather shiny right now, Zack knew he had to bring the creature’s attention back to himself.

Well, I can be shiny too!

He raised Fjalar to the sky with his right hand, and began to raise his left to support the blade and hover over the Thunder Stone to lend it energy, but he stopped himself quickly; he didn’t have his gloves on right now, and direct contact with elemental stones and/or high voltage tended to be bad for one’s health. So he had to be cautious as he forced his will into the stone, sparks beginning to gather around the blade’s tip. His already spiky hair stood even further on end, attracted to the energy building around Fjalar. More and more the sparking grew in intensity and frequency to create a pulsating flare of blue light, a beacon rivaling and contrasting Bax’s red glow.

The charging was complete, and so he pointed Fjalar at the monstrosity. “THUNDER!!!” he cried out to put his heart into what the attack entailed. The immense charges which had gathered around the blade now burst forth in a swift horde of blue light snakes, bearing down on their larger physical counterpart. The creature jumped in literal shock as the stream of electricity stung through its body and produced most unpleasant heat. It turned toward Zack with an almost stunning scream, its head jerking unevenly from the confused neural signals brought on by the voltage. It began to move in his direction, raging, slime flying from its mouth as its tail rent buildings into rubble.

“Not done yet,” Zack muttered, smirking, as he extended one hand and clenched it into a fist.

The worm had kicked up so much dust and debris, its bellows so loud and its presence so ominous, that it had been easy to miss the fact that the sky above it had darkened and pulsated with occasional flashes which Zack had managed to charge at the same time as his localized bolt. It had taken concentration he hadn’t even known he possessed, and indeed he was barely noticing that he had developed quite a headache. But his move was completed as he brought his fist down, and a large quartet of lightning bolts struck the giant creature, two directly, the others indirectly or near-misses. The mingled smells of burning flesh and ozone created a nasal dissonance, and the sounds of pain, surprise, and utter hatred of such a gargantuan creature were not pleasant songs either. The worm’s long body spasmed and twitched for several moments, foul excretions exiting its posterior end.

And yet, it was still far from dead, far from even helpless. It drove straight at the building Zack was on, willing to allow the rocks and dirt it encountered to grate across its wounds for the sole purpose of eradicating the nuisance. Zack glanced toward Bax, and hoped he was ready to perform his attack soon. Ahh, but perhaps more pressing was to get out of the quickly nearing creature’s way. Zack leaped down to the right, bounding between the walls of a neighboring brick building and the cement walls of the one he had occupied until he reached the ground, then broke into a full run.

But the creature slammed into the building just as it was vacated, reducing much of it to crumbs in an explosive instant. Zack held Fjalar behind his back in an attempt to deflect flying debris as he ran, and a great many chunks clanged off of the metal, a few impacting his hand, legs, and grazing past his face. At least the worm, now dizzy and disoriented with the object of its rage out of sight, stayed where it was while Zack pounded out distance with his feet.

“GO FOR IT, BAX!!!” he screamed so his friend knew not to wait on him. Whether he was out of the way or not, this foe had to be killed quickly.

[prodigi]

[ OoC - first half of post takes place between Zack's two attacks ]

Prodigi watched Bax and Zack, waited for his oppurtunity to present itself, and then took it. He hefted the large projectile-firing weapon onto his shoulder, carefully took aim, and quickly squeezed out two rockets which left twin swirls of exhaust as they flew directly at the worm. As the rockets closed in Prodigi made a quick calculation in his head before firing the fourth, and last, rocket up into the sky. No sooner had the rocket left the barrel then Prodigi threw the useless weapon aside. He ran forward at the mammoth-like creature before him and watched as the worm hurled three cars, two that rendered the rockets dust, and a third that spun in Prodigi's direction. Prodigi dodged to the right of it at the last second, landed heavily on a nearby car's windscreen, and launched himself off the car, propelling the vehicle backwards, and hurling himself, almost flying, through the air at an incredible speed towards his adversary.

As the distant between himself and the worm closed, Prodigi drew his sword and threw it overarmed, like a lance, at the creature. He followed through with the throw, spinning his body in a graceful arc (whilst still rocketing towards his enemy), drew both his Desert Eagles, took aim, and unloaded five bullets from each before holstering them again. Seven of the bullets hit their mark, smacking into the hilt of Prodigi's sword, sending it forward at an even greater speed, causing the air around it to bend from it's enormous forward momentum. The other three bullets missed by millimeters, and carried on past the weapon before bouncing off the worm's thick hide uselessly.

A shrill whistling began, as the sword sliced through the air before it at and incredible rate, before, thwack! The sword imbedded itself all the way up to it's hilt in the worm's thick hide on it's neck. The worm drew itself backwards in agony, causing Prodigi's original trajectory to alter, so he adjusted himself at the final moment, before reaching out and grabbing hold of one of the worm's enormous razor sharp teeth. He swung around the tooth like a gymnast, before finally the tooth gave way and came free. As the tooth broke off, Prodigi launched himself in an upward motion, taking the tooth with him, and ploughed it into the top of the inside of the worm's jaw. He managed to dance out of the creature's enormous jaws before it brought its mouth together, hard, and pushed the tooth even further into it's soft inner tissue. Whilst the worm recovered he was able to dash down the worm's neck and recover his sword. He drew out the blade, and examined the odd mucus-like blood on it. He grimaced at it before wiping it off on his pants.

He felt the worm beneath him shuddering in pain, and knew it would not last long. It's time we ended this, he decided. He shrugged his shoulders and allowed his trenchcoat to roll of his back, slide down his arms and fall in a heap on the 'ground'. He looked upwards, searching the sky, before observing the battlefield around him. The worm had soon lost interest in Prodigi and was in an intense one-on-one with Zack. Prodigi marvelled at the adolescents enormous power. Zack sent his enormous bolts of lightning down across the great beast, but non struck Prodigi as Zack's aim was perfected. After Zack delivered his final strike the worm seemed disorientated, and searched for an opponent to battle. Prodigi saw Bax not too far away, charging what may be the all important attack in this battle, so he decided it was time for he himself to get back into the fray, before the worm turned on Bax. Prodigi dashed across the worm's body once again, before coming to it's eyes. He leaned over it's eyelid and stared deep into it. Without saying a word he raised his sword and rammed it down, into the beasts eye, blinding that eye. The worm writhed around, throwing Prodigi clear of it. Prodigi spun and stared behind him as he flew through the air. The worm had righted itself and was launching itself at Prodigi. He swung back to face forwards and saw himself sailing over towards Zack.

"GO FOR IT, BAX!!!" Zack screamed so his friend knew not to wait for him.

"ZACK!!!! I NEED A LEG-UP!!!" Prodigi screamed at Zack.

Zack quickly turned to see the incoming projectile which was Prodigi, and nodded his head. He stepped backwards with his left leg, and took a firm stance, both arms held before and below him, hands clasped. Prodigi flipped himself over, and landed his right foot on Zack's awaiting hands, hitting the poor boy at nearly 100 miles per hour. Yet again Prodigi was shocked at Zack's enormous power. Zack's left leg dug deeply into the concreted rooftop as he wrenched his arms upwards, so fast that the action was just a blur to Prodigi. At the last second Prodigi curled his leg towards himself and launched himself upwards as hard as he could. The combined momentum from Zack's launch and Prodigi's jump propelled Prodigi directly upwards, the air around him shimmering and crackling. He swung himself around to face the enormous worm which was advancing into the air directly behind him, mouth outstretched, gaining on Prodigi, wanting to eat this nuisance. Prodigi drew his Desert Eagles and fired at the oncoming worm's open mouth, knowing it did nothing, but hoping it would by him the precious time he needed. Over the top of his guns he heard an unmistakeable earsplitting shrieking sound. Before he could react his fourth and final rocket streamed past him at an immeasurable speed, and screamed straight down into the worm's outsretched mouth.

Time stood still.

BOOM!

The worm shuddered. Enormous plumes of smoke and flames poured from the worm's mouth, yet it did not slow. Prodigi's eyes widened. The worm continued its ascent, before overtaking him, and taking him into it's belly.

[Shadow Phoenix]

Flames arched through the sky as the melee and other chaos raged about around the worm. Bax couldn't concentrate on his friends as he charged this attack, but he couldn't help but give an appreciative glance at their power. He had always sensed that they were extraordinarily powerful, but this was the second time that they had helped him out of a jam and showed amazing prowess. Bax had to wonder--if he got into a fight with either of them, who would win? Bax was confident in his abilities, but these two just kept on pulling out more stops. Quick and deadly attacks. Most of the attacks that Bax had been using were hard and heavy hitters that took quite a bit out of him.

Bax smiled and he was completely encased in flames just before Prodigi was swallowed up, and he was completely locked into his attack, unaware of his friend's most recent actions. All that he knew was his target.
"Draca Roglia, Jazol Ulawino!"

Soundless. The calm before the storm stretched on for a moment as all sound was bounced away, reflected away and refracted to horrible distortion by the sudden heat. The flames around Bax swirled upwards, morphed and changed, raging powerfully. Then, for just a moment, the flames stretched out to form wings and took on the form of a phoenix. Then just as suddenly, all of the flames rushed down and slammed into the ground, filling the fissures with red that poured out onto the street. The ground beneath the beast turned red and began to melt into slag that swirled around and seemed to open up a portal into the bowels of the planet.

Still soundless. And then...

It was as though a bomb had hit. First came the light, bright red and billowing miles high as it engulfed the great worm. Then came the first trickling of the sound, crescendoing swiftly to shatter the sound barrier and explode in visibly air-folding, riveting, and distorting currents. The heat came soon after, washing over everything like a tidal wave--powerful enough to knock you over, but leaving you standing there for a moment to experience the ferocity before taking you along as an unwilling victim. Then, and only then, did all hell break loose and pour up from the ground.

A literal column of flames rose up in a raging inferno, taking the slag up for several hundred feet, twisting the molten gravel to form a hollow tower that would rapidly solidify as the flames finished their work. The worm rose up slowly as the flames rushed up about it, charring its tough hide, burning wounds closed and then ripping them apart once again in painful blisters. It was unable to shriek and scream as the torrents of rage engulfed it.

The attack seemed to last an eternity, but time seemed to be distorted by this attack, and it was difficult to tell how much time had actually passed. Bax fell to his knees where he was, breathing heavily as he gazed at the after effects of his attack. He felt something warm flutter into his eye and he blinked, trying to get it out. He looked up to see what it might be and saw ashes raining down, fluttering slowly from the sky that had now been painted red.

He took a deep, wheezing breath, and surveyed the damage around him. He couldn't see Zack or Prodigi anywhere, but he just hoped that they had taken cover somewhere when everything began to get out of control. He half-expected to see the worm rise from the ground somewhere at any moment, but fully hoped that he would see its blackened remains falling in several disgustingly putrid pieces. That attack would have had to have taken it out...it just had to…

[ZaCloud]

It had been blindingly red, but now it was dark. Zack’s still sensitive eyes, roughed up from the earlier battle, were burning anew from the intense light and debris they had been forced to encounter. He also felt the sharp and dull weight of rubble all over his body, and realized he was twisted in a rather awkward position, with his back arched around a huge chunk of cement and one leg being mashed forward along his belly by another. He struggled carefully at first, then with more fervor until some of the debris began to tumble off of him and some light painfully greeted his red-tinted gaze. He could smell burning in an overwhelming wave.

Zack winced and produced various sounds of displeasure including groans, whines, growls, and pseudo-curses as he twisted and pushed his way from below the heavy debris, dust and ash being dislodged and freed into the air and causing him to cough in addition. He had a new set of cuts, bruises, and scrapes to go with the others, that was for certain. The jacket had helped protect him to a small degree, though now it hung limply from his battered forearms, down around his hips rather than over his shoulders as he staggered up into a sitting position on the pile of rubble.

Blinking several times, hissing with pain and batting away the pink salt-water, he tried to look around at the aftermath of Bax’s extreme attack. The smell certainly told a tale of charred stinking flesh. Dead flesh, he hoped. Zack flapped his right hand in his hair with his eyes closed to shake off as much ash and gravel as he could, then stumbled toward the light of Bax’s glowing crest. His back and hip were rather sore from the impact and contortion, so that combined with struggling through more debris made his pace very awkward indeed.

“Is it *cough* ‘sit dead? *cough cough*” he asked as he neared, running his wrist across his face and pushing his mussed hair back.

Bax, relieved Zack was alive but concerned for his roughed-up state, frowned a bit before looking toward the still smoking mass in the center of the destruction. “I hope…” he answered grimly. “This one was very strong. It is good you two are here.”

Zack gingerly pulled a piece of gravel from his chin, then tensed and looked toward the smoldering mound. “Prodigi… Bax, can you see ‘im? I can’t see too good again, where is he?”

The Phoeniyan’s eyes widened and he scoped the area, quickly jumping onto a nearby pile of debris to get a better view of the area. Everything was burnt so black, the ground was so uneven, and Prodigi so small and likewise wearing dark clothing, that it would be very difficult to spot him.

Zack looked on tensely, then began to attempt searching as well despite only vague shapes reaching his tortured corneas. After launching Prodigi toward the beast; he had been busy running and had not gotten to see if the small warrior had taken an escape route after his barrage of attacks. Regardless, he had to have been awful close to the epicenter at the time…

“…Prodigi? PRODIGI??” he yelled, pausing to listen, then slowly moving toward the center of the crater, head raised and face full of worry. “Cyrus? Prodigi? … Prodi—“ he tripped over a chunk of twisted steel he had failed to see and fell forward unevenly sprawled over more junk, crying out in surprise and then curling up with a momentary whimper. One more gash on his forehead.

Bax stepped forward and pulled Zack to his feet carefully, helping steady him. “Do not go over there, Zack,” he cautioned the battered blonde, “It might still be alive.”

Trying in clumsy vain to catch the bleeding with his hands, Zack looked up at Bax and protested, “But Prodigi might be over there! I almost know it! Can you feel his presence over there? He’s alive, right?”

[prodigi]

No sooner had the words left Zack's mouth than a small pile of rubble in the center of the crater began to shudder. Zack and Bax tensed up, reaching for their weapons. Suddenly Prodigi's head popped out from beneath all the junk and inhaled with an almighty gasp. After several deep breaths he managed to free the rest of his small physique from the the rubble. He stood awkwardly, eyes out of focus, one spurting out blood, with a great gash running from his hairline down to his jawbone, before stumbling amongst the wreckage, searching. Eventually he found his sword amongst the rubble and noticed the sack of dead flesh hanging from the tip. He turned to face Zack and Bax.

"I think it's dead!" he called out.

He stood there for a moment, swaying, in a daze. After a few moments he collapsed sideways in a heap, unconcious from the enormous beating his small body had taken from Bax's attack, and the stomach acids of the creature.

He would never be able to see out of his right eye again.

[Shadow Phoenix]

The scene was frightening, maybe even horrific. Three worn out and fairly injured individuals dotted a landscape that looked like a war zone. One of them looked half-dead and was lying on the ground. Another, bleeding freely, seemed barely able to remain standing, and looked the most human of the three. The other, apparently the least injured, had a flame atop his head and was obviously not from this world. He seemed to be very worn out to say the least, though, and was breathing heavily.

The buildings all around them were in various stages of disarray. Some just had a few shattered windows, some were sagging on their damaged foundations, and others were pouring rubble to the streets like water from faucets. The sky above was discolored, seeming almost scorched by fire and storm. There were ominous clouds collecting above the scene, like an ellipse on the situation that had just unfolded, as if to say that this wasn't over just yet, but had been completed for now. And in the center of it all was a structure of hardened slag that frayed out into the air and formed a hollow, cracked and inverted gray cone. It wasn't natural, and anyone who saw it in the coming days would be shocked at its craft.

Then of course, there was the heap of smoldering flesh twisted about on the ground next to the grotesque structure upturned from the ground. Smoke still poured from it though it was half-buried in the rubble that covered most of the block. It was barely even recognizable as a shade of its former self, save for a mouth that still gaped open and poured now-gelatinous blood and other disgusting fluids. It was dead--that was for certain.

It was a scene that could be taken from a horror movie.

And the young teenaged boy standing on a rooftop a safe distance away with a small camera had caught all of the aftermath and at least a little bit of what had happened beforehand. He grinned, still amazed by what he had managed to capture. Now he just had to decide what he was going to do with the footage--this was too big for a single station in Midgar. This was going to be big.

The boy turned the camera off and ran to descend the flight of stairs to the streets below. Wait til he showed this to his buddies!

* * *

Bax supported Zack with his shoulder as they both hobbled over to Prodigi's fallen form as quickly as possible. Bax looked down and observed his friend with a grimace. His wounds looked painful. Had he, too, been caught in part of Bax's attack? Had Bax yet again injured a friend while trying to take care of the enemy? Bax closed his eyes and knelt down to scoop the ancient man up in his arms.

"Do not worry, Prodigi. We will bring you somewhere safe. I promise."
Bax turned to Zack, "Have you got everything, young friend?"
Zack wearily nodded after a moment of thought. Prodigi still had his weaponry, and Zack had been able to drag his sword over. Bax half-smiled, then looked up at the sky.
"It looks like it is going to rain soon. We will need to find shelter somewhere. I wonder how far we are from our hotel..."

Bax thought about all that had happened in such a short time. It was hard to remember everything...

The unnerving encounter with the Pyramid-headed being in the hospital with Lynx.

Azriel attempting to stop Necrostiana from being released, then the battle with Valtiel after being indwelt by the evil Phoenix, after which Valtiel summoned the first worm that Bax killed.

Zack rescuing Bax from the hospital and reuniting with Prodigi again.

Saving Sephiroth from certain death over in Zion with the help of Keldira.

The fight with the three members of the Holy Order of the Magi.

Then catching the subway to try and go back to their hotel and being interrupted by those strange beings...and finally being attacked by this most recent worm.

How had all of this happened so quickly? Bax shook his head and suddenly wished that he knew where his new motorcycle was. As his leather trench coat billowed about in the odd breeze, he sighed.
"Let's go, Zack. I'll find my latest acquisition later, but we definitely need to find some place to rest first. Can you walk?"

[ZaCloud]

Zack looked up at Bax and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll follow you so I don’t trip on anything else.” He swiped a bit of blood from his eyes, most from his forehead gash, but some from the eyes themselves. The day had been rather rough on them. Things had been much rougher on Prodigi though, and something began to bother Zack. He decided to wait a bit more though, before mentioning it.

Bax had to lead the way despite not really knowing where to go, since Zack couldn’t do much navigating in his current state. “I dunno where we are, even if I could see this,” he said, “I don’t think there’s a lotta people around here though; this area seems mostly abandoned. We can probably try any building that doesn’t look like it’s gonna cave in.”

He followed on for a while, moving to the sides whenever Bax’s shape did so. Then, he asked, “Is Prodigi… getting any better?”

Bax looked down momentarily, then in a puzzled voice, answered, “…No. No, he isn’t.”

Zack frowned. He had thought so. “He always used to get all fixed back up by himself. This is bad. I’ll do what I can for him when we’re settled. We’ll need access to stuff… Is there any hotel or motel or inn around here at all?”

“Not yet, still no people,” Bax said, looking around at the desolate buildings. But gradually, things looked newer and more lived-in, and over time more eyes peered suspiciously at them. “Oh… Here is a hotel. Clark’s.” It was small compared to the other they were at, but boasted nice amenities and had vacancies.

“Alright, this’ll do, I checked out of the other one anyway.” Zack scampered forward, arms extended until he reached the door and held it open for Bax, then he moved ahead again to the desk. Despite the shape he was in, he grinned as friendly and brightly as ever. “Hello, sir. My friends and I need a room, please.”

The man behind the counter’s jaw dropped as he looked between the three roughed-up companions, two of whom looked very unusual indeed. “Umm… Sure. We have a two-bed vacancy… do you want me to call a doctor?”

Not knowing what doctors would make of Prodigi since he might not have really been dead or alive at that point despite being alive, Zack shook his head. “No sir, we’ll be fine. I can make a deposit, right? I don’t have a credit card.” He had learned about that condition at their last hotel. The man nodded and asked for an amount. He handed back the change honestly since Zack had handed him too much, unable to discern the numbers on the bills too well. The man then gave them their room keys, and they quickly found their way to room 238.

Moments later, Zack had washcloths, cups of water, and towels on the table next to the bed Prodigi was on, and between cleaning his own eyes to see, he treated Prodigi’s wounds with efficiency and care. He clearly knew a lot about repairing injuries through experience. He muttered as he worked, “There, now that won’t get infected… That has to come out… Man, the eye’s a goner, the other looks fine thank goodness. That’s awful though…”

Finally, with Prodigi bandaged and toweled, Zack felt exhausted. So much battling in one day. Night was now falling outside, and between the exhilarations and the horrors, the three of them had had practically no rest. He looked at Bax, who was sitting on the other bed. “I could just fall over an’ sleep where I land right now,” he said with a weary chuckle, “But I better get cleaned up too. Maaaaan, I don’t wanna, so tired…” This last bit was whined/mumbled as he dragged himself wearily into the bathroom and closed the door. Then it opened moments later and he said, “You take the bed, Bax, just spare me a blanket.” The door closed again.

Once more, soap stung into Zack’s wounds, and that pain was all that kept him from falling asleep right there in the bath tub. His vision cleared a bit as time went on, though once more things were still rather blurry. He hoped it would be better by morning; if this pattern of chaos was going to keep up, he didn’t need to become a burden to the others. Up until now, he was the only one stuck with his injuries; Bax and Prodigi could both heal rapidly, ready for the next battle, while Zack would be forced to push past his previous wounds while picking up more with each scuffle. But now, this didn’t seem the case with Prodigi. Zack hoped the reason behind this wasn’t too detrimental to Prodigi’s wellbeing, besides in the obvious way it was.

Stepping out of the shower, Zack dried off with a towel, wrapping it around his waist. No clean change of clothes with him; those were at the gym. They would have to go back for their things in the morning. Or three days from now, whenever he felt like waking up. He chuckled a bit at the mental exaggeration, then yawned and knelt down to make sure the dark spot on his foot wasn’t a piece of debris. It was, so he idly picked at it to remove it, movements growing slower and less accurate, until it fell from his fingers and he slowly leaned until he was curled up on his side. So tired, so sleepy, so weak…

He reached under the sink and pulled the handful of extra towels to himself, piled them haphazardly over his body, and fell asleep right there amongst the fluffy cloths.

[prodigi]

Prodigi 'slept' restlessly, his 'dreams' invaded by shadowy figures eating away at his mind. Try as he might he could not repel these figures, and was forced to take the pain, the constant tearing away at his conciousness...

Prodigi stood in a deep fog, unable to see anything beyond or after him. His weapons were nowhere within site and he stood dressed in a funeral suit, complete with a split down the back. He looked about him but was still unable to see anyone, or anything. He began to walk, and walked for what seemed an eternity before he heard hoarse breathing nearby. He approached the sound to find Zack and Bax. Zack leaning against his great sword, Fjalar, and Bax from his two fiery swords, blood pouring from their ears, eyes, noses and mouths. Prodigi gave a shout and ran forward trying to grab them, but their bodies dissolved to fog, and Prodigi was left standing on his own. He tried to steady his racing heart. He stared about himself, eyes wide. He stopped suddenly. He felt for his neck and felt the beating pulse under his skin. He then reached up and touched his right eye. He had a pulse and his right eye was fine. Only then he realised he was in some sick dream. He knew that the dream was not of his doing alone. There was another force at work. No sooner had this thought entered his mind than a voice spoke behind him.

"Quick to realise that I was the one behind this, huh?" the Skull Cowboy asked, reading Prodigi's mind.

Prodigi turned to face the corpse dressed in the cowboy hat and tanned leather coat.

"What the hell do you want?" Prodigi asked.

"I told you, I gave you fair warning. I said that you would work for the dead, and giving any unauthorised help to the living would be fatal for you."

"I'm already dead," Prodigi replied simply.

"Yes that's right, but because you helped your two, 'friends', and went off on your own little quest with them, you will find the power of the crow will now offer you little protection. In fact, because of that simple fact of you being dead, now that you can no longer heal through the magic of the crow, you are doomed. You see, your body may have survived it's injuries if you were alive, because a living body can heal its injuries over time. Your body is dead, and you no longer possess the abilities to fix it. You are doomed."

Prodigi flinched where he stood, and realised that the Cowboy spoke the truth. There was no backing out of this one. He lunged at the Skull Cowboy, his fingers around the Cowboy's throat. The Cowboy smiled, and dissolved into sand, which blow away on an empty wind.

Prodigi sat up screaming in frustration, strangling empty air. He calmed himself quickly and looked about his surroundings. Bax was asleep on a nearby bed and Zack was passed out on the bathroom floor under a pile of towels. Prodigi rolled his aching body over and fell to the floor with a thump. Zack and Bax slept on. He dragged himself into the bathroom, and managed to heave his body up with the help of the bathroom sink. He stared at his sorry reflection. His head was heavily bandaged around his right eye, and stained with blood, and the rest of his body was a jigsaw puzzle of coloured medicinal ointment stains, patches and bandages. He steadied his thoughts and tried to focus on the problem at hand. He knew he had minutes left before his body could not take anymore. He found it ironic that his state of death, would be the cause of his death. He thought long and hard about the events that had occured recently, focusing on the personality transformations he had taken. His mind was severely unstable due to the centuries he had spent in solitude in the desert, and from the bearing of the Fallen Phoenix, those hundreds of years ago. He found it hard to be a singular being and was always triggered into a different person by events. No longer. No longer he decided would he be the pawn of others, twisted at their will to act as they wish. He would live for himself alone from now. No. He would live also for his friends... His friends Bax and Zack, the only true friends he could ever remember.

He wanted so badly to live, and live free with his friends, without the burden of others who haunted his past. He knew there was only one way for him to exist in this world, and that he would lose everything to obtain his life. He looked across at the sleeping Zack, and spotted a small smile in the corner of the teenagers face, as he slept on. Yes, Prodigi though, losing it all is worth it... For them...

He raised his gaze and stared at his image in the mirror as he saw his wings unfurl from behind his back and spread out wide. He reached out with both arms and stroked them. Suddenly he grabbed hold of both and yanked down on them hard. He stiffled a scream as he felt the large twin scars on his back tear open once again, and the wings become detached. He collapsed onto the ground, his wings lying at his sides. The angelic wing began to break apart into it's seperate feathers, which all flew out the nearby window, flying skywards. The demonic wing melted into slag before dissolving into the floor and disappearing downwards. He felt at his neck, hoping the risk had been worth it. Sure enough, there was a faint pulse. He needed to have his back stitched up soon, or else he would bleed to death, and his life would be short lived. He crawled across the blood-slicked tiles, reaching Zack and shaking his shoulders.

"Wake up Zack," he gasped, "I need you now more than ever."

[ZaCloud]

“Claude? Hey, c’mere! Ya gotta see this!”

The blonde boy paused in his bug and lizard hunt and scampered over to where his big brother was looking under a log. “What is it?”

“Lookit this snake!” Zack exclaimed, pointing. “It’s beautiful!”



Claude couldn’t help but allow his eyes to widen and his mouth to gape open. It was a bright orange snake with varied shades and markings. He had never seen such a striking creature, aside from a few obviously venomous ones. This one probably was too; he refrained from touching it.

But Zack said, “I don’t think it’s poison… Lookit the shape of its head, an’ it has round pupils.”

Claude frowned a bit. “Zack… It’s awful pretty…”

The elder brother looked at Claude for a moment, then sighed and gave in to a lopsided, rueful grin. These were boys who knew the true meaning of hunger. Not the kind where it’s been several hours since you’ve last eaten and really need a sandwich. Not the kind where you’ve been hungry for so many hours that you don’t feel hungry anymore, your stomach tight and your head aching. No, they knew what it was like to be starving. To be so weak from days of this hunger that they can hardly move.

As it was, the boys had been living on just the minimum for weeks. They had been lucky to find this area covered in logs and rocks with places to hunt for small creatures to eat. And now, they were presented with something that would be a decent meal, but the younger was already very reluctant to end the life of such a gorgeous creature. And truth be told, so was the elder.

Zack slowly picked up the snake, carefully. He had learned through experience how to do so without startling or restraining the animals. He moved his hands as it continued trying to crawl, letting it weave between his fingers and over his wrists.

“Tell ya what bro,” he said to Claude, “We’ll let it go for now. If we can’t find anything more common to eat, we might have to resort, but we’ll see what else is brought to us.”

Claude smiled, then accepted the snake when Zack handed it to him. Well-schooled by his older sibling, he too knew the proper way to hold it, and he reveled in the sensation of the smooth, clean scales moving over his hands. The forked tongue flicked against Claude’s skin, making him giggle. The snake then began to nuzzle against the boy’s neck, liking the warmth of whatever it was crawling on and wishing to find a place to settle in.

The boys both laughed. “He sure likes you,” Zack chuckled, stroking the snake’s tail.

After a while of playing with their glamorous acquaintance, they released it under the same log they’d found it under, and continued their search for food. Fortunately, they found enough giant beetles, edible mushrooms, and greens that they decided they could spare the snake.

In the evening, however, as they were bedding down for the night, they saw the snake’s bright form sliding over the dust and toward the east, out in the open. The boys were puzzled, and began to follow at a distance, able to follow due to its highly visible hue. Why would the snake suddenly yet purposefully go off like that?

They found their answer: it coiled and waited at the base of a large sand dune. After slightly less than an hour, there was an irregular series of pitter-patters, then sliding forms; a stampede of rats, of various sizes, was traveling across the top of the dune in search of water, figuring it safer to move in groups. Apparently, this was a common migration route, for the snake had known exactly where to wait. Many rats slipped and tumbled down the dune, and it eagerly snatched and constricted one to eat.

Zack and Claude smiled at each other with excitement, and they scrambled forward to catch as many of the rats as they could, some of them quite large. Aside from the usual desert strain, they all were healthy; disease was thankfully uncommon in this area.

Thanks to their mercy toward a creature’s rare beauty, they had been rewarded with far more sustenance than they would have gotten from it originally. This fueled their determination that things would always work out as long as they were kind when they could be.


The dream had pretty much already run its course, when Zack was shaken awake by Prodigi. As always, his mind forgot the dream at that moment. But still more to push it out of mind was the strong smell of blood. Zack’s eyes opened quickly as his still blurred vision saw Prodigi absolutely covered with the stuff. Zack sprang into a semi-sitting position, towels tumbling off in all directions.

“Prodigi! What happened to you?! Oh man, here.” He pushed the towels into a pile and lay Prodigi back-down onto them to help with the bleeding. “I’ll be right back.” He dashed into the main room, returning in almost the same instant with the medical kit the maid had sent up for them earlier at the desk-worker’s request. Zack carefully helped Prodigi turn back over, and examined the wounds, wiping away the blood a few times to get a better idea of the injuries’ extent.

“I’d get Bax to burn ‘em shut,” he said, calm enough to sound very trustworthy but nervous enough to sound concerned and worried, “But this is way too deep. Besides, the fellow needs more shut-eye, so I’m gonna do some stitchin’. Sorry for how much it’ll hurt. Here it comes.”

Prodigi winced as the needle entered his flesh, and he could feel the grating of the thread as it pulled through, then the mild jerking as the knot was tied. This was going to take a while, and would not be pleasant. But this pain was on his terms, an affirmation of his freedom, of the life he had taken back for himself. Even though he occasionally groaned and hissed at the stinging, he wondered if he might have been smiling.

Zack, as he worked, tried to keep himself calm and Prodigi occupied by talking. “I’m workin’ on speed here; this might not be perfect. You’re prolly gonna have bruising all around your back though; I’m sewin’ deep but there’s still gonna be a lotta loose blood under your skin. It’s gonna suck, I know, it even sucks now… I have a few questions. First, why weren’t you getting better from last night?”

“…It’s complicated,” Prodigi said with a slight growl, sweat beading on his brow but being absorbed by the towels under him.

“I guess it’s also complicated how this happened?”

“…Yes…”

“You can tell me later then, or not at all. Jeez, this is deep… wings ripped right out, huh? An awful lot happens to you that I never understand… If I can prevent any more of it, I want to.”

“You shouldn’t have to now…”

“…I hope you mean that in a good way.”

“Think so.”

Zack relaxed a bit. At least, as much as possible considering he was repeatedly stabbing his friend with a needle while being doused in his blood. Despite being good at focusing in a medical situation due to his repeated, unremembered experience, he always found it hard to cause pain to a friend, even if it was to help in the long run. Prodigi obviously had a very high pain tolerance, especially considering his relative silence as the injury had happened. So, at least the feedback wasn’t as heartbreaking as Zack’s had been for Bax back in the Desert of the Dead, when the Phoeniyan had had the grim business of cauterizing Zack’s gunshot wound. But this was still something Zack wished he didn’t have to do, except that it was the only way to help Prodigi at this point.

Squinting a bit, and leaning close for better visibility, Zack kept from tearing up so that the blurriness would not get worse, and so he wouldn’t further sting Prodigi’s wounds with salt-water. Those motivations kept his eyes dry and his motions determined. He worked with the same conviction as he used in battle.

Finally, the bleeding was reduced to minor seeping as the wounds were held closed by the dark threads. Zack gently, carefully swabbed at their edges with a moist towel to clean away the excess blood, then left the mild remainder for natural clotting. With a sigh, he sat back, head lowered and eyes closed to rest them. “They’re all sewn up,” he announced wearily, “Hope I did alright.”

“Did fine,” Prodigi answered quietly, turning his head to face him, “I’m still here, after all.”

Zack smiled a bit, opening his eyes to meet Prodigi’s. “Guess so. Well, I sure am glad. Glad you’re ok, and that you’re here.”

[Shadow Phoenix]

A good night of sleep. It was something that Bax hadn't had in a long time. Yet last night, Bax had found his rest and slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep. He knew nothing of the events that had gone on on the floor where Prodigi lay nearly bleeding to death the night before. So when he opened his eyes and sat up he was stunned into silence. He screeched silently, half-gurgling with a wide open mouth. He looked around the rest of the room and saw Prodigi laying in a bloody heap on the bed while Zack sat looking out the window.

Zack heard the muffled sounds and turned to face Bax with a slightly weary but still joyful smile. He looked like he hadn't slept much.
"Good morning, sleepy head!" he said just above a whisper.
Bax sat there dumbfounded staring at Zack, then looked down at Prodigi and barely managed to babble, "What...happened...?"
Zack chuckled in a slightly cracked voice and gave his head its traditional scratching. "Well...Prodigi lost his wings is all I know...I sewed him up. And um...I think he's...alive now."
Bax cocked his head to the side, "Alive..." He shook his head and muttered something about "I'm not even going to ask what's going on..."
Zack sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. "I don't understand a lot either. Hopefully we can find out soon. Till then, we can live without it, eh?"
Bax looked back up at Zack and stared for a while until his eyes seemed to glaze over. Then he just plopped back down on the bed and dragged the pillow over his face. He was never going to get used to these strange earthlings...

* * *

An hour or so later, Prodigi was up and all three of them were ready to go. All they could hope for at this point was a semi-normal day. Semi-normal because none of them were really very normal themselves and anything they did was bound to get them in some sort of trouble. All three toted around large swords and dressed rather abnormally...so that at the very least they stood out in a crowd. One of them was obviously an alien; another was hundreds of years old and...used to be undead...and the other was covered in scars. They definitely were not normal.

They checked out of the hotel with apologies for the...mess...in the room...and quickly ran off to avoid talking about it. From there, they avoided the subway and just walked the rest of the way to the gym.

Bax was glad to be back in slightly familiar ground. Granted, he had been seriously attacked here, but it was just...a sort of home. He had been attacked in his actual home several times and was still alive to tell the tale. It was fine, really...

And his motorcycle was here. He liked having access to that again--it would make travel much easier now...

As they got inside, Bax turned to his companions and smirked.
"You know what...I think we are going to need some money."