Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Bahamut & the Guardian Forces ❯ The Perfect Storm ( Chapter 17 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Final Fantasy and all related trademarks belong to Square Enix. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

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The Perfect Storm

By nightdragon0 (nightdragon0@hotmail.com)

"Boko!" Phoenix cried desperately.

At practically the last moment, the Chocobo suddenly kicked at the beast with his talons. Taking a surprise hit to the nose, the Chocobo Eater stumbled backwards, howling in pain.

Boko didn't waste any time in dashing out of the cage.

"Boko! Great job!" Phoenix called. "Quick get me out of this thing!"

The yellow bird acknowledged and ran over to where Phoenix was trapped. He took to ramming the stone block over and over again, though he didn't seem to be strong enough to break it.

<It's not working!> Ashley warned.

"Boko, it's coming back! Run for it, quick!"

However, the Chocobo didn't move and kept ramming at the stone block Phoenix was trapped in. The ground shook as the Chocobo Eater came closer and closer. Then, as the creature made a leap, Boko sprinted away.

WHAM!!

The Chocobo Eater's huge mass landed right on Phoenix, freeing her from her stony 'prison' in a shower of dust and stone chips.

"Gurgh!!" Phoenix rolled away, coughing. Even with her stiff muscles, she managed to get up and face her opponent.

Unfortunately, just the force of the Chocobo Eater's roar was enough to send Phoenix flying into a wall, leaving the impression of her body in it. While Phoenix was still seeing stars, she was suddenly grabbed in one of the Chocobo Eater's huge hands and brought towards its mouth.

While it had wrapped its fingers around her body, Phoenix was still able to move her head and gave the beast a couple of pecks in the face. That caused it to drop her, covering its face in pain.

Trusting her friend's directions, Phoenix dashed past the Chocobo Eater and towards one of the side corridors. The passageway was wide open at the moment and Phoenix noticed the raised section of a stone door.

The door apparently moved vertically, so there had to be some mechanism to trigger it.

<The lever, see it?> Ashley asked.

"My thoughts exactly." Phoenix grinned, bringing the Caladbolg up. "Here he comes."

The Chocobo Eater was charging blindly for her and Phoenix stood her ground. The fire elemental threw her sword just as her opponent came through the doorway. The weapon was right on target, striking the lever and causing the heavy stone door to drop...and crush the Chocobo Eater's head beneath it.

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"Kweh!"

"Yeah, I'm happy to see you too." Phoenix smiled, stroking the Chocobo's head.

It had taken Phoenix a while to find her way around the jammed door, through the corridors and back to the main chamber. Fortunately, Boko had been patiently waiting there for her.

<Looks like your community's problem has been solved.> Ashley commented.

Boko then started making some chirping sounds, while Phoenix looked on, nodding her head.

"He says he can hear another Chocobo close by." Phoenix translated. "And he thinks it's this 'Amazing Chocobo'."

<Jee, how does he know that?>

"Beats the hell outta me, but I guess we gotta help him look for it."

The young Chocobo led them to a closed door and begun tapping on it. Phoenix looked around and found four levers nearby instead of one. After a while of moving them around, she figured the correct combination was required to open the door.

"Hey, I got it!" Phoenix exclaimed upon hearing a click.

Both watched with anticipation as the stone door slowly began to rise. There was clearly another Chocobo behind the door, for they first saw the talons, legs and then...

"That Chocobo looks..." Phoenix began.

<Amazingly...> Ashley continued.

"Normal." They both finished, disappointed.

The 'Amazing Chocobo' was a little larger, but otherwise looked like just another Chocobo.

"Kweh!" Went the Amazing Chocobo.

<Now, that was Choco-boring.> Ashley muttered.

"Yeah..."

The Amazing Chocobo turned and glanced towards them, then suddenly took off running.

<Great, now she's Choco-bolting.>

"Kweh! Kweh!" Boko ran after her.

The Amazing Chocobo stopped as Boko approached and the two begun an exchange in the form of various 'Kweh' noises. After a while, the two started nuzzling each other.

"Wow, quite the charmer, ain't this little guy?" Phoenix commented.

<Aw, that's cute! Now they're Choco-bonding.> Ashley laughed. However, she stopped when she realized that Phoenix was glaring at the floor. <Hey, what's wrong partner?>

"No nothing."

"It's just....Bahamut..." Phoenix shook her head. "No nevermind."

At that, Ashley fell into silence too. She knew exactly what Phoenix was thinking about.

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"Man, don't they have customer service on this train?" Glenn muttered, pacing around the carriage.

"Oh, will you shut up?!" Bahamut growled. "I've had nothing to listen to but you complaining since we started this trip!!"

"And how about me? I've had nothing to listen to but you complaining about how much I've been complaining!"

"Grrr...that's it! You're getting hurt!" Bahamut leapt off his seat and yanked Glenn's dragon tail. "Gargh!!"

Bahamut immediately felt a sharp pain in his own tail and was forced to let go.

<You wouldn't want to do that.> The voice of Doomtrain laughed. <He's your lifeline to the living world.>

"Finally, you decide to speak up." Bahamut muttered. "What do you mean by that?"

"Yeah, I remember." Bahamut nodded, not knowing that he'd received the same information Madeen had passed to Unicorn and the others earlier. (Or more specifically, in Chapter 14.)

"Humph, thanks for reminding me."

<I've been told the true opponent is someone very close to you Bahamut, but for now, only Alexander can say more.>

"Alexander...the spirit within the Holy Castle..."

<That's where your human comes in.>

"Hey, he's my dragon!" Glenn protested, only to be shoved away by Bahamut.

<You're essentially dead, but he isn't entirely. And I'm bending a few of the rules for you two, being the one who travels between the Lands of the Living and the Dead.>

"Meaning...?" Bahamut began.

<He's your life source now, so keep him in good condition. Because if you lose him, both of you go down.>

"NNNOOOO!! GARGH!!!" Bahamut fumed.

<What's the big fuss?>

"Grrr...nothing." Bahamut muttered, recovering his composure.

<We're almost there, so you'll have to junction again too.>

"Looks like you'll have to deal with me a while longer." Glenn chuckled.

"Don't remind me." Bahamut moaned.

The two pressed their claws against each other and closed their eyes. Glenn felt a slight shock going through his body, and when he opened his eyes, he was standing outside on an empty railroad platform.

"Wow, this is...hey!" Glenn looked over his hands and realized he was back in human form again.

Around him was a forested area with a large building visible over the treetops.

<That's your destination.> Doomtrain spoke.

Glenn turned and spotted the train GF backing out of the station.

"Hey can't you take us all the way there?"

<Sorry kid, I only go as far as the rails take me. I'll wish you good luck though.> Doomtrain called as he faded into the darkness of the forest.

<Humph.> Bahamut's voice rang out in Glenn's mind. <I'd almost forgotten what it's like being inside your head.>

"I have a similar feeling." Glenn replied. He also found he had the Ultima weapon strapped to his back in a sheath, a pretty welcomed addition.

<Get moving.> Bahamut ordered. <Alexander has never been known to give things up easily and I sense a battle ahead.>

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Far away, a sandcraft sped across the vast, open desert. The vehicle greatly resembled the sandcraft Madeen had accidentally destroyed during the battle earlier.

While Salamander piloted the vehicle, the other 5 had shifted to the forms of their human partners.

"Nice breeze, eh pretty lady?" Salamander commented. "Nothing like the desssert wind howling passt ya sspeeder."

That was addressed, not to Aldrea in the front seat next to him, but Unicorn instead.

"Not to offend ya kiddo, but perhapss Unicorn and me could take a nice, romantic walk in the ssands when thiss is all over."

<Ooohhh...why did you have to sit up front with him?!> Unicorn moaned.

"Erm, he sorta requested it." Aldrea scratched her head. "I just couldn't say no."

<Gagrh...>

In the back seat, a certain water elemental GF wasn't too happy either.

<I swear, if he does that one more time...> Leviathan told Brad privately.

"What's wrong? Not jealous are you?" Bard casually asked.

<JEALOUS?!> Leviathan forgot himself and blurted out, getting Brad stares from everyone else in the sandcraft.

"What wass that?" Salamander asked, turning his head around.

"Hey look out!" Cid warned.

"Huh?! Garghh!" Salamander realized, a little too late, that there was a large boulder in his path. He swerved the vehicle, causing it to tip over and throw everybody out.

"Ow...be careful there!" Cecil muttered, dusting herself off. "Guys, everyone all right?"

One by one, she received their affirmative nods.

<This place is a wide open space!> Madeen exclaimed. <How could you not see a rock in the middle of the path?>

"I'm ssorry. I'd sswear it wassn't when I looked earlier." Salamander scratched his head.

"He's not kidding guys, I didn't see it either." Aldrea added in.

"But then..." Cid turned back towards the rock, and where the sandcraft lay on its side nearby. "Uh-oh!"

The ground suddenly begun shaking as the 'rock' moved. It stood up and burst open, revealing a large, humanoid creature.

"The GF, Golem!" Salamander gasped. "But I thought it wass losst in ancient timess!"

"Apparently not..." Brad muttered, allowing Leviathan to take over his body.

"And he doesn't seem very happy either." The sea serpent emerged and finished.

The other humans shifted into their partner's forms, just in time. Golem slammed the ground, throwing up a huge cloud of sand that forced everyone to back away.

"Grrr...you won't sstop me!" Salamander pulled on his helmet and lunged at Golem with his lance.

Valefor charged in to help, but both were abruptly thrown off its body, not even leaving a single scratch.

"This must be the Earth Wall ability of Golem." Unicorn realized. "It absorbs all forms of physical damage!"

"Then we'll have to use magic." Leviathan decided. "Cut open the water-filled sky and pour! Watera!"

The magical burst of water exploded on the Golem, causing it to stumble.

"Yeah, that works!" Madeen cheered. "Now try mine! Spirits of blazing light, gather to my command and strike! Banishga!"

Several rays of light fell from the sky and struck the Golem's chest. Whilst the rocky beast let off an odd moan, it was also joined by several chattering sounds. A squad of Cactuar then rose from beneath the sand, jumping about angrily.

"Huh?! Cactuar?" Madeen wondered. "Gargh!! OWW!!"

The squad promptly sprayed him with their 1000 Needles ability, leaving dozens of needles stuck all over his body. Several other Cactuar turned and begun firing on the rest of the group.

"What the?!" Leviathan dodged. "I thought Cactuar don't attack unless threatened!"

"It's true that they don't." Unicorn replied. "But I think Madeen pissed them off when he cast that Area of Effect spell!"

"Hey! How was I supposed to know they were buried beneath the sand?!" Madeen protested.

"Guyss...that'ss not all!" Salamander called. "Look!"

A gigantic scorpion had also risen from the sand beside their group.

"It's a Doom Scorpion!" Madeen gasped. "Those attack anything upon contact!"

"Energy Ray!" Valefor shot off a burst of light that blew the Doom Scorpion to pieces.

<Valefor watch out!> Cecil called.

Too late, for everyone had forgotten about the Golem in their state of panic. The rock beast charged over and slammed into Valefor, hurling her to the ground. To make things worse, more Doom Scorpions were emerging from the ground, in addition to the sandstorm that was brewing up.

"Terra Homing!" Madeen fired off his light elemental attack, which managed to knock the Golem over.

"We're in trouble!" Unicorn groaned, leaning over to cast a healing spell on Valefor.

<Yeah, this is like a really bad video game.> Aldrea muttered.

"You're telling me." Leviathan muttered, slashing at the Doom Scorpions with his tail.

"It'ss about to get worsse!" Salamander shouted over the din of the battle. "Thiss ssandsstorm is going to be a big one!"

"How would you know?" Leviathan asked.

"You live in a desssert, you pick up a few thingss!"

The winds picked up a few moments later, just as he'd predicted. With their eyes full of sand and the winds drowning out all their cries, there was nothing else for them to do but huddle together and take the force of the attacks being thrown against them.

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"You're sure about this?" Ashley asked again.

"Kweh!" The Amazing Chocobo nodded firmly and lowered her back.

<They want to help us out as much as they can.> Phoenix confirmed. <The Amazing Chocobo can go further and faster than most of her kind.>

"Kweh! Kweh!" Boko cheered, jumping up and down.

"You really can't come this time buddy." Ashley petted his head. "You're a really brave fellow though. Thanks for your help back there."

"Kweh!"

<We're even, as he puts it.>

"Well..." Ashley jumped onto the Amazing Chocobo's back. "Let's ride!"

With just the two of them and a vast desert ahead, it would be a long journey.

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"This is it?" Glenn wondered.

The castle Alexander stood on a small hill in the middle of the forest. It was what anyone would expect when they heard the word 'castle', a gigantic, silver building with high walls and multiple tower tops.

"All yours." Glenn nodded, shifting into Bahamut's form.

"Hey you big pile of scrap! Wake up this instant and answer me!"

Immediately, the ground shook as the seemingly empty castle begun to move. There were screeching and groaning sounds as parts of the castle shifted and turned. Slowly, it revealed itself as a robot with a head in the center and two huge arms.

"So, you're the one who's been summoning me?" Bahamut called.

"Well met, dragon king." The booming voice of Alexander responded. "Doomtrain, and Yojimbo, whom we sent as a messenger did their jobs well."

"So what is it that you literally had people drag me through hell for?"

"You fight now, on a quest to restore the balance of this world. And with it, carry the fate of another world on your shoulders."

"Why should immortals like yourself and Doomtrain care about it?" Bahamut asked. "What happens in the world doesn't matter to you."

"While our existence is eternal, we watch over the balance of the worlds. However, this crisis you now face threatens that very balance itself. Your opponents do not even know the extent of damage their actions will cause."

"You're talking about Diablos and his cronies?"

"Them and more." Alexander explained. "This is the reason that you are needed for. Only you hold the key to resolving this matter."

"Why me then?"

"Two things. Firstly, an ancient magic known only as the forbidden spell. It is something only you may possibly yield. And secondly, the true opponent being a figure from the darkest reaches of your past."

"What? Who?!" Bahamut demanded.

Alexander however, was silent for a long time.

"So, that's all I'm going to get out of you?" Bahamut continued.

"This is the beginning of your trial." Alexander declared. "Come face me and show off your powers in battle!"

As Alexander's eyes glowed, Bahamut leapt into the sky, just in time to avoid a white beam detonating the spot he'd been standing on.

"You want a fight? I'll give you one!" Bahamut roared.

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In another part of the desert, the vicious sandstorm had finally died down. With that, a GF who'd been taking shelter from it was finally free to fly again, and shook all the sand off his wings.

His name was Tritoch, whose appearance was similar to Valefor, a reptile-like creature with bird feathers and wings. However, Tritoch was easily 3 times her size.

He had three heads too, each one with a reptilian snout and face. His main color was blue, but sections of his scales also consisted of other 6 colors of the rainbow.

Tritoch hadn't been flying for too long before he spotted something half buried in the sand. Curious, he descended to take a look, though keeping his guard up. One would never know what dangers lay await beneath the desert sands.

However, what he saw caused all three heads to gasp.

The little bit of whiteness visible was the upper body of the tiger humanoid, Madeen.

Maduin's son! Came the collective thoughts of the three-headed reptile.

Fortunately, Tritoch was an ally of Maduin's group and it was his first instinct to help. As he descended, the sprawled shapes of several other figures caught his eyes.

Leviathan and Valefor also lay nearby, unconscious with multiple scratches and scars all over them.

This day just keeps getting better and better. Tritoch told himself.

In spite of the nice stroke of luck of 'running' into him, it wasn't entirely the best possible outcome for the group. Tritoch had no way of knowing that two of their number were missing, or that the sandpit nearby was the cause of their disappearance.

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Bahamut dodged two more streams of light before letting off his Mega Flare in mid-dive. His opponent, however, raised one of its arms and blocked out the attack.

"Damn, he's not fast, but he is very durable." Bahamut muttered as he swerved away.

<You got a plan of offense?> Glenn asked.

"Just to keep wearing him down! Impulse!" Bahamut gathered up and fired four dark balls of energy.

Two collided with Alexander's light elemental lasers and disappeared. The next two were fortunate enough to strike Alexander's body. Bahamut then flew in close, firing off his breath weapons as he twisted to avoid crashing into Alexander's arms.

<Maybe there's a weak point we could hit him at.> Glenn suggested.

"Let's try his back!" Bahamut acknowledged.

Dodging the dozens of laser cannons which were firing the beams, Bahamut spun beneath Alexander's arm and flew up behind him.

"Mega Flare!"

BOOM!! The explosion left a large, blackened patch in his opponent's back, with Alexander letting off a long, metallic screech.

"One more time!" Bahamut decided as Alexander slowly turned to face him.

Once again, Bahamut flew around the slow moving GF to his back. This time, the laser cannons faced the rear and fired on Bahamut from there.

The dragon drew the Ultima weapon and deflected beam after beam. He just had to get close enough to hit with the Mega Flare's maximum damage.

All of a sudden, Alexander's head made a full 180 degrees turn to face him. Startled, Bahamut moved off course and was struck in the chest by one of the light beams. More shots followed up, forcing Bahamut to keep moving, despite the pain. However, he still took several hits and doubled back to attack again.

Using the Ultima weapon, he was able to block off most of the shots as he charged straight in. Upon reaching the appropriate range, Bahamut lowered the sword in order to target with his breath weapon.

That was when Alexander's eyes glowed, hitting the dragon's face with a great burst of light.

Screaming, Bahamut spun out of control and crashed into the giant's shoulder. Immediately, he was pelted by the laser cannons at close range.

<Move it or lose it! NOW!!> Glenn cried desperately.

Bahamut barely made it to the sky, taking heavy fire from all the beams of light elemental energy. Unfortunately that wasn't his only concern.

"Rrarghh!! My eyes!" Bahamut howled, clutching his face. "I'm...I'm blind!!!"

<Try to keep your cool!> Glenn urged. <You can't...>

"Urgh!! Ggarrghhh!!!" Bahamut had just been hit by another beam.

However, this one wasn't intended to cause damage, but instead it wrapped around his chest like a chain. Several similar beams were fired, entangling his limbs, wings and tail until he was hopelessly trapped.

A helpless, trapped dragon in mid-air.

Though he couldn't see, Bahamut heard a large weapon being charged up.

"Crap!! Damn!! ARRGHH!!!"

"Holy Judgment!" Alexander unleashed its ultimate attack against the immobilized Bahamut.

When the smoke and flashing lights had cleared, all that was left of the dragon was a trace of bluish light.

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"Ughh...ow....we have got to stop this kind of thing from happening to us." Glenn moaned.

Glenn pulled himself to his feet and glanced around. He was standing in a seemingly empty space of white light.

"What the heck is this?"

"Hm? It's practically nothing. Just a white background in every direction, as far as I can see."

"You have fought well, dragon king." Alexander's disembodied voice boomed. "Though you were defeated, I am impressed at your performance."

<Well, I hope blowing me to bits made you happy.> Bahamut muttered sarcastically. <It's a good thing I'm already dead.>

"But what is this pace?" Glenn queried.

"The next part of your trial." Alexander replied.

<Beware, for when you ride the train of doom, the holy castle you will arrive at. And thus alone seek a key to the door of light.> Bahamut said softly. <So it was Yojimbo who sent that message. It's starting to make sense now.>

"The power you seek is within this maze." Alexander told them. "Go now, your destiny awaits."

"Go where?" Glenn took a step forward, only to run into hard obstacle. "Whoa! The walls must be invisible or something!"

"And we have to go through this thing?!"

<Just get moving.> Bahamut muttered. <I have a strange feeling the answers await us beyond...>