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Post by matt on Dec 19, 2006 15:56:58 GMT
Akira was stopped by the Elite that had attacked him earlier. "Oh yeah, forgot about you.", Drawing his demon sword Akira clashed blades with the elite clone. His attention was diverted for a moment to see the number of people that were down. Ami, Blood, Cloud... and even more were injured. The clone kicked Akira to the chest, knocking him out of his thoughts and back to the battlefield.
Falling backwards, Akira drew a second sword, his dragon sword, and cut into the clones arms, and sending him flying. Jumping backwards, Akira threw his devil blade into the clones spine, sending it across the battlefield.
Blood was in trouble. He lay nearly unconcious as clones approached him. He tried to muster the strenghth to stand. There was no way that he was getting up. He had exhausted all of his energy when he summoned La Magra. "Is this where it ends?" Blood looked around to see countless numbers of clones, overwhelming his allies. "No... It won't end here.", Blood managed to get to his feet weakly. His sword had been sent across the ground. He picked up one of Asuka's kunai, and took on the clones as they approached.
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Post by mistervillainman on Dec 20, 2006 6:17:04 GMT
E42 made no move to defend, his function had been completed, and crippled as he was, he could serve no further purpose to the greater good... But that didnt mean he couldnt inflict some kind of damage... As Squall and Cid attacked, he struck straight out with his remaining blade and drove it into Squall's thigh, where it sliced through the outer edge of the skin just as the two warriors came down on him.
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Tseng leapt out of hiding and swung his EMF right at Kadaj's skull, trying to get the fight off in his advantage. He knew it wouldnt kill him... But a head injury could sure tilt things in his advantage... His first strike was blocked, so he jabbed his second EMF right into Kadaj's sternum, knocking him back before he could counter Tseng's initial strike.
"Greetings triplette... Or should I just call you... Twin?" He said snidely, preparing himself for the brawl ahead.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Dec 20, 2006 6:52:19 GMT
Kadaj was knocked off-balance, and he hit the grass with a nearly seismic thud. But he didn't stay down long... he sprang back at Tseng, sword point first, aimed right for his ribcage. "For one, I am NOT a triplet," he snapped. "There were FIVE of us, and none of us were born at the same time. Idiot," he added under his breath. "And second, as far as the Twin remark goes... if you happen to be making reference to a certain general with a tendency to not stay dead... he's dead again for now. Solid lump of rock, out beyond the Inn, if you feel up to a hike."
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Post by mistervillainman on Dec 20, 2006 6:56:44 GMT
"I was referring to your equally useless brother that just got taken down by one of our soldiers..." He said, blocking the strike at his ribs and then springing off it to swing his other EMF at Kadaj's throat, trying to crush his windpipe.
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Rufus saw Fruxas shooting at the blur of motion zooming around the room and gritted his teeth angrily. He'd had enough of these pests and their "powers"... Nothing Shinra technology couldnt fix...
He pulled a flash-bang grenade from his belt and pulled the pin, launching it into the center of the room, where the shape always seemed to pass through, then rolled under the table, pushing Fruxas and the child down to the floor and covering their ears with his hands and pressing their heads into his chest. The blast from the grenade was blinding and deafening, sending debris from the floorboards everywhere as well.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Dec 20, 2006 7:22:07 GMT
"Soldier! Ha! You'd be the first person I ever met with such woefully inadequate intelligence that he ever considered the likes of Rufus Shinra a soldier of any variety," Kadaj sneered, ducking forward under the EMR strike and bringing his sword at Tseng's midsection from the left as he dodged to the right... that was one other pull he had over his siblings. They and Ami were right-handed... he could fight just as well with either one. And for him, just as well was very good. "Pure luck was the only way he survived in there at all. Pure, dumb luck... otherwise, Loz would have had him beaten to a pulp in five seconds flat, and that while wearing a blindfold and a leg splint."
****
Joey, traveling as quickly as she was, could see the grenade coming long before it even hit the ground... She launched herself past Xima towards her father and sister, knocking them backwards with the speed and almost the impact of a speeding train...
They got the wind knocked out of them, but at least they were clear of the blast. They picked themselves up as their ears began to ring... and saw Xima with deadly hatred in her eyes, also picking herself up from the impact... This is why my people hate munitions. One of these days, Rufus... I'm going to sit you down and have a nice long talk with you about explosives used in proximity to your allies.
She charged them again, screaming like a maddened banshee... Reno didn't even have time to say "Oh s**t" before they were desperately busy warding her off again... Joey kept trying to get a drop on her, but Xima always managed to guess where she was going to be, and her powers had drained too far for her to retry hyperspeed just yet...
****
Fruxas clung to his father in instinctive terror as the dust started to settle... as the sound of the explosion faded, he could hear the baby crying... his training finally took hold again and he tried to calm himself down, but there was a tremor in his hands that refused to go away...
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Post by mistervillainman on Dec 20, 2006 7:30:36 GMT
Tseng twisted out from under the incoming blade, when it struck the ground where he'd been standing, he lunged forward again and cracked Kadaj in his sword-hand elbow, then followed that up with an opposing strike towards Kadaj's kneecap.
"Well Remnant... He DIDNT take down Shinra, did he? So I suppose he wasnt as great as you thought he was."
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Rufus held the children, trying to calm the baby down. He looked at Fruxas, placing his hand on his son's chin to look him in the eyes. "Fruxas, easy now... Dont leave your sister, you stay and watch over her until either I or your mother return." He said, then rolled out from under the table, rushing forward and kicking Joey straight in the ribs as she sped by, the grenade had worked better than he'd hoped.
"Which shall I take, darling?" He shouted to Xima as he yanked back the hammer on his assault rifle.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Dec 20, 2006 7:48:50 GMT
Joey half-grunted, half-screamed as she got a solid foot in her chest, which knocked her backwards into a decorative shrub (half crushed already by all the action)... she rebounded and zipped back inside, running this time on her own steam until the very last moment...
****
Fruxas nodded silently to his father's order... he had no intention of leaving the baby, anyway, but being trusted to watch over her gave him just that much more determination to do so as well as he could...
Then that red blur again.
He lay the baby down carefully on the floor, wrapped in his coat, as he took stance in front of the table with his crossbow... he shot again, with unnatural speed and precision, trying to outguess Joey... Sooner or later, she'll get tired of tricks and she'll rush me-- I can't take her alone. Let's hope I can wear her down first...
****
Reno saw red when he observed the kick in progress. OK, so these kids weren't officially born yet... but they were still his kids. And it definitely didn't help Rufus' case that Joey was nearly a carbon copy of her father at that age... becuase that made it that much easier for a few irritating memories to surface...
"Don't bother answering for me, wench," he interrupted. "Your boyfriend's a** is mine."
He charged him, coming in fast with a kick towards that rifle... "Just for the record... your pension plan s**ked."
****
Annie gulped, not sure her father knew what he was getting himself into, but too busy fending off Xima to help him out.
Xima smiled. "How nice. Your daddy left me the fun part... I get to carve those pretty little green eyes out with my bare hands, right after you use them to watch him die."
Annie realized Xima was serious... she wasn't putting as much of herself into this fight as usual. She was toying with her, keeping her busy... she only wanted her to survive long enough to see her father die, and then, she wouldn't be long in following...
****
Jared could feel his memories splintering as his younger self's resolve began to cement... We have to move fast, or... or... Please, I need my mind for just a little longer...
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Post by mistervillainman on Dec 20, 2006 8:07:29 GMT
Rufus released his grip on the rifle as it was knocked aside and immediately drew his knife from his belt, the same one he'd been training Fruxas with... It still felt like it was so long ago to him...
He slashed right across Reno's chest with the razor-sharp blade, tearing through cloth and skin like it was warm butter.
"Well you werent with the company long enough to recieve any benifits anyways, Reno... Not to mention you never put your last name on your W2 forms... Wasnt that because you hate your real name? Should I clue your friends in on it?" He asked, taunting him as he jabbed at him quickly several times with the knife.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Dec 20, 2006 8:32:07 GMT
Reno met the knife with the EMR, knocking it back repeatedly. Seeing flecks of blood on it was slightly disconcerting... but seeing his kids at this creep's mercy overrode his squeamishness. As far as skill levels, he and his former boss were on fairly even footing... but his boss didn't have a mysterious energy field backing him up.
"As if you ever took the trouble to know it, yo," Reno jabbed back. "As long as it wasn't biting you in the a**, you never gave a d**n about anything. That was more or less what us flunkies were for, right, yo?"
He tried to aim a punch with his free hand while forcing back the knife with his weapon... "And while we're on the topic, W2 forms also s**k, yo. Taxes and that one other thing... never had much use for 'em."
****
Kadaj quickly tossed the sword to his other hand and caught the blow coming at his kneecap. Unlike most of the other warriors on this battlefield, his energy never seemed to deplete...
He threw the oncoming blow backwards hard enough to send Tseng flying. He pursued the man with a hard downward plunge at his gut, not even waiting for him to finish braking to a hard stop in the dirt... "Didn't you hear? It's bad luck to speak ill of the dead."
****
Xima had to suppress a grin... she had been rubbing off on her mate. That threat about confessing the name... she could see herself mirrored in it. Although she couldn't help wondering how much of it had become part of him after they came together compared to how much of herself she had seen in him when they first met...
"If nothing else, our cruelty is well-matched."
She kept blocking Annie, whose abilities to alter space were doing precious little to help her here and now... it was only a matter or neutralizing her, meeting her blows with minimal force, until Rufus finally stopped playing around and slaughtered that d**n annoying redhead...
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Post by mistervillainman on Dec 20, 2006 8:39:42 GMT
Tseng grunted as the wind was knocked out of him and he hunkered down, gathering some force before leaping upwards and bringing his knee up with him... Straight into Kadaj's jaw. As he landed and regained his breath, he bluffed over it... "Yeah someone tried telling me that once... But I killed them and spoke ill of them too."
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Rufus put all his muscle (which was substantial) into pushing the knife towards Reno's face again.
"Oh I know a lot more than you think... You always WERE like the red-headed step-child of the company Reno..." He said. Suddenly, Rufus twisted to his left, releasing his force against Reno's to send his opponent moving quickly past him, he then wrapped his arm around Reno's neck, trying to get the knife to his throat quickly. "And yes... I do know that your name is...." He said, whispering it into his ear so nobody else could hear him. "Maybe I should tell your wife, just so she knows her own husband's name... right before I gut her with this very knife..."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Dec 20, 2006 9:04:37 GMT
Reno's eye went wide open with shock... and then almost glazed over with anger... and started glowing green...
Annie, even with Xima threatening every moment to slice her to ribbons, had to grin maliciously. "Ohhhh, now he's done it."
"WHAT THE S**T?!?!" Reno almost screamed, practically exploding with fury. Heedless of the knife at his throat, he twisted around and delievered an almost meteoric punch at Rufus' ribcage, sending him smashing back through the wall of the inn... he blinked. Geez... did I just DO that?
Joey jumped at the sudden sound of smashing plaster... even in slow motion, it was startling... and suddenly she had flying plaster, a flying body, AND Fruxas' bolts to dodge... it figures that at least one would hit her, and that one was a bolt, right in her foot. She crashed to a stop, crumpling against one of the few walls that DIDN'T have a large hole in it by now...
Fruxas gaped at his father's... eh, dramatic entrance and ceased fire... Joey peeked at him out of the corner of her eye and decided to see how far she could get by doing nothing... she masked her vibes and tried to look unconscious, with a rather high degree of success. Fruxas thought she was out like a light... he impulsively moved towards his father to see if he was all right, until his command to protect the baby echoed in his mind, forcing him to stay in place... He called out to his mother to come in and help him.
She heard and something inside her lurched uneasily as sudden thoughts of her family in danger flashed across her mind before she could supress them... she began edging her way back, but Annie wasn't about to let her off that easy... she redoubled her attacks, her eyes glowing green...
Reno stalked after Rufus, hollering at him through the red haze in his mind. "I happen to like my fiancee's guts just where they are, thatnk you VERY much, yo!" He didn't seem to be in any rush... Better be glad I'm not, boss, because when I get to you, you're going to die.
****
Kadaj had been knocked back almost flat on his back, but he'd turned over midair and regained himself as Tseng landed... he pulled his legs under him like a coiled spring and launched himself at Tseng, scything the sword at his neck... "Killing you won't bring my brother back... but it will be a d**n good consolation prize."
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Post by mistervillainman on Dec 20, 2006 9:11:09 GMT
Rufus groaned slightly and rolled over onto his side in the pile of debris.
"Well if we cant remove her guts... I'll just have to pump something INTO yours..."
He looked away from Reno, towards Fruxas and spit some blood out onto the floor... before snatching up the assault rifle Reno had kicked there...
"Like I said son... dont forget to mind your surroundings..." He said.
Rufus then rolled onto his back again and squeezed the trigger with the rifle aimed at the approaching Reno, sending a hail of hot lead straight at the approaching red-headed madman.
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Tseng brought his EMR's down in an X shape to block the strike and drive the blade down to the ground, leaving both combatants essentially stuck, because if Tseng moved, Kadaj's blade could easily come up and cleave his manhood in two, but at the same time, Kadaj's blade was now jammed into the ground, so Kadaj was open to attack if he let go.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Dec 20, 2006 9:57:19 GMT
Kadaj had one quick and easy answer to that little stalemate. He quickly reositioned his feet and smashed his head full-force against his assailant's, knocking him off-balance long enough to yank his sword out of the ground and thrust it up towards Tseng's jugular. I'm gonna send you to meet your little blonde friend...
****
Reno saw his boss taking aim and instinctively dropped to the ground, which saved him from the initial barrage... what protected him from any further attacks was a red blur, physically yanking the gun out of Rufus' hand and pitching it out the window, speeding back around in a wide parabola with a pointed foot jab at his gut as she passed over him on her way back to the kids... a jab that gave one figure just enough time to slip past him...
Fruxas opened fire again, but a hand clamped over his, stopping him... He looked up and tried to twist the gun away... he fired... only to discover the hand that had stopped him was his own hand, some twelve years removed... the hand of a dying young man with the most important message of his life to give... eight bolts were embedded in his neck and shoulders, all creating punctures that bled profusely, bright red blood...
Jared came to a halt directly in front of the boy, a move any other living being would have considered suicidal... and unleashed a flood of memories into his mind as a purple glow passed between them. Memories of the past as it once had been... of the future that became... visions of how it would become if he continuted submitting to his parents here in the present...
Fruxas. I know you love them. You never will stop loving them. But the hard truth is... they never loved you. They said, even thought, that they did. But only because they didn't know any better. Fruxas, sometimes we hold onto a lot of things and call them love. But for Rufus and Xima... it isn't love between them, or love for you. It's greed. It's fear. You deserve more than that. Nothing is worth going your entire life without love. Not even a family.
He collapsed there at the feet of his younger incarnation and died.
Fruxas froze in place, unable to speak or even move... a lifetime had just been forced into his head... and the one who had given it now lay dead at his feet... this one who was meant to be him in a future day... Is this suicide?
An anguished scream broke into the haze of his confusion as Joey streaked towards the baby... Fruxas raised his gun to fire and found that he couldn't... the transplanted memores kept surfacing... Joey. My best friend... my first crush... but none of those things have happened yet! For all I know, this Jared made them up, maybe they weren't real... so why am I crying?
****
Annie felt her sister getting closer to the baby's dark presence... she began to shimmer faintly, and Xima snarled impatiently... she drew her sword to strike, but before the blade could reach its target... the girl had disappeared and was already inside, in the corner of the room farthest from the devastation...
Xima barged in after her, screaming in anger, as Annie and Joey converged on the children... Fruxas held static by the two lifetimes suddenly holding court in his mind...
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Post by Squall on Dec 20, 2006 21:24:45 GMT
Squall glanced down at his leg, grimacing. His high pain threshold prevented him from screaming, but he wasnt happy all the same. " Whyd do pick on me for you bastard!" looking over at Cid " hes just as gooda target!" adrenaline rushed round squalls body and immediately his mind set on revenge, grabbing the top of the elites sword he threw the blade back out of his thigh, teeth clenched as a smattering of blood flew out. Ouchie... He switched the gunblade into his left hand and put pressure on his wound with the other, " See how you like it..." Squall hopped fowards and swung the gunblade down at the elites head, which he blocked. " Shouldnt have done that," with and equisite flick of the wrist (which showed no sign of squalls left being his weaker hand) he readjusted the hold on his gunblade and swivelled it round, plunging it through the top of the elites thigh
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Dec 20, 2006 21:54:10 GMT
Yazoo spotted one of the last Elites making a move to finish Ami off. He fired at it, but the Elite was focused on inflicting as much damage as possible, even if that meant picking on someone weaker... Yazoo made a beeline for it, shooting nonstop. I'll need backup...
Ami saw the Elite coming and reached out for her blade, even though she was still stuck lying flat on the ground, but it was way beyond her reach...
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