Final Fantasy 7: Vincent's Second Chance
Chapter 4 "Conflict with Jenova"

 
    Cloud yawned sleepily as he shook his shoulders a little as he stood near the back of the town with the others. Rubbing his eyes sleepily he noticed quite a crowd gathered around them as they prepared to embark on their journey. He could hear many of them whispering about Sephiroth and his origins here. Uncaring about what they said, Cloud stretched his arms a little as he noticed Tifa and her dad walking up. This ought to be interesting he mused to himself as he straightened himself up.
    "Greetings." Sephiroth said gesturing to Samuel as he walked up to them. "We'll be going off to the Reactor now, if that's okay with you?" he continued as he awaited Samuel reply.
    "If I'd know this would be a result, I would have outlawed mountain trekking." Samuel grumbled, as Tifa looked annoyed at him.
    "Oh come on Dad," Tifa remarked at her Dad's stubbornness, "I got four SOLDIERs with me, it'll be safe enough."
    "Oh all right." Samuel grumbled as he crossed his arms and stormed off.
    "That was interesting." Zack replied to Vincent who merely shrugged back. "Onward to the mountains!" Zack laughed as they made their way to the mountain ranges of Nibel.

     * * *
    "I hate mountains!" Zack cried as he slowly creep along the sides of the path looking down at the gorged below." "When I get married and move out of Midgar, I am never going anywhere near a mountain range at all." he promised himself as he slowly made his way careful not to slip.
    "Oh shut up." Cloud retorted as he walked casually across the path. "The path is three feet wide, loosen up." he muttered as he look up ahead at the other three. "How are you doing up there?" he called toward them.
    "Just fine, thanks for caring." Tifa commented back causing Cloud to blush a little.
    "Don't get cocky," Vincent interrupted as he scanned the area around them, "the Nibel wolves may be ready to ambush us anywhere."
    "I heard of them." Sephiroth said as he keep one hand on his Masamune. "They are suppose to be one of the most dangerous pack animals." he stated as Zack started to feel nauseous at the vertigo. "Heard they can kill an eat a grown man in two minutes flat." Sephiroth added as he saw how sick Zack was starting to get.
    "Would you boys grow up?" Tifa asked looking back at them. "The Reactor is just over this ridge." she pointed as Zack look a bit relieved at the flat ground ahead.
    Vincent quietly followed Sephiroth and Tifa as they reached the top of the ridge and look down at the Mako Reactor below. Strange he thought as he stared at the Reactor, it seemed to be familiar in some ways. Looking back as Cloud helped Zack with his vertigo he managed a chuckle and thought, well guess it isn't so bad for Cloud to have motion sickness. Turning back toward the Reactor, he brushed his hand through his short black hair, as the window around them seemed to become colder.
    "I sense something…" Sephiroth remarked as his eye started to dart back and forth. Pulling out his Masamune, he hissed, "On guard, keep Tifa away from the fight." The four SOLDIERs quickly circled Tifa as a strange pea soup fog started to appear around them.
    Gripping his sword tightly, Cloud growled, "This is not a normal occurrence."
    "They are out there." Vincent replied flatly, as his red glowing eyes started to shine brightly.
    "Who?" Zack asked as pairs of glowing red eyes suddenly filled the fog around them. "Oh." he muttered as he heard the sound growling emanating form the eyes. The sound of nails scratching stone could be heard as more eyes appeared all around them.
    "So the infamous Nibel wolves make their appearance…" Sephiroth murmured as one of them stepped out of the fog.
    The creature stood at least four feet at its shoulder and was probably seven feet long in body. Coarse and unmated spiky mane trailed across the back of its head to the tail. It fur was a grayish brown with a bit of whit underneath it. It's fang filled muzzled drip saliva as it glowing red eyes stared at them. A still moment passed as it exchanged glance with Sephiroth before it let out a howl and leaped at them. All at once others came dashing out of the fog at them. The four ready their weapons at the onslaught.
    "These guys sure are persistence." Sephiroth cursed, as he sliced through several of them in a single slice. "Never read any of them attacking in these numbers!" he cried as he stroke down another bunch.
    "This is unusual of them." Vincent remarked as he cut his way through them like butter as even more came at them.
    "Why is that?" Zack asked as he stumbled back dodging the hungry maw of one of the wolves.
    "Nibel Wolves are cunning pack hunters, but they never use brute force like this." Cloud answered as he sliced at one of them. "And besides when did wolves ever had glowing eyes like this?" he asked as brought his sword back.
    "They don't." Sephiroth stated as he stabbed his sword into the ground. "This is getting us now where." he growled as an aura of green energy started to surround him. "Lit 3 All!" he cried as a huge bolt of lightning slammed into the Wolves frying them all.
    "Impressive." Tifa stated as looked at the steam coming form the ground by the intensity of the blast. "Hey what's that?" she said pointing to a pair of mako eyes looking at them from an overlooking ledge.
   "I don't know, but I doubt it's friendly." Sephiroth said as he stared at it. Raising his palm up at the thing, he said, "Lit!" A bolt of lightning blasted form his palm at the thing, which leaped out of the way and landed in front of them.
   "Hey it’s a girl." Zack cried as he looked at it.
   "I see there are no rocket scientists here." the girl laughed at them as she stood up straight. Her long bluish hair blew in the wind as she flourished her black cape, revealing the identical SOLDIER uniform she wore underneath.  Stroking away one of the lose bangs in her face, a huge roar echoed across the mountain range as the huge form of the Mako Monster came flying up above them.
   Narrowing his eye as he faced his enemies, Sephiroth asked, "What is your connection all this and the monster."
   Chuckling at his question, the girl laughed, "I expect much more from you, but I can see I was mistaking now." Gesturing for the Monster to land, she fondly petted it as she said, "You could have been everything, a god in some context, but you threw it all away for your pathetic origin." "As for this thing," she smiled as she stroke the monster, "my little pet needs more than a simple sword cut to kill it."
   "What are you implying? Vincent asked as he narrowed his eyes at the girl.
   "Before I go there you should at least have the honor of knowing my name, I'm Kakena the Messiah for Jenova." Kakena smirked as beam of pure energy appeared in her hand. "I will bless this world with the boon of Jenova and let her power consume another region of space." she laughed as the Mako Monster charged at them.
   "Get Ready!" Cloud growled as he took a defensive position as the monster came at them. Dodging its claw he said, "Sephiroth go after the psycho lady, we'll take care of this."
   "Right." Sephiroth nodded as he leaped over the monster to Kakena. "Let's see how good you really are." he said as he swung his sword at her.
   "Good enough to beat you." Kakena retorted as she parried his Masamune with her energy blade. Leaping back and extending her palm, she said, "Fire 3!" A huge sphere of inferno blasted from her palm at Sephiroth.
   "Counter Attack." Sephiroth cried as he saw the ball of inferno approaching him. "Ice 3" he chanted as a huge shard of ice surrounded the inferno. A huge flash blinded the two visions as the spell canceled each other out in their force. The aftershock slammed both Sephiroth and Kakena, sending them flying backwards, skidding across the ground.
   Meanwhile Tifa sat on the top of the ridge as she watched everyone duke it out. It is pretty entertaining she thought as, Cloud dodged another of the monster's tail swipes. Vincent quickly slashed at the monster as it moved to dodge, but ended up being attack by Zack. The creature let out a roar as Cloud's sword found home in the creature's side. Annoyed the creature swatted Cloud aside, as Zack plunge the blade into its heart. The creature gave a final roared before it collapsed dead on the ground.
   "Looks like you beat it." Tifa commented as she walked down to the battered SOLDIERs. As she helped Cloud to his feet, she asked Vincent, "Will it come back to life again?"
   Staring at the corpse, Vincent muttered, "That is uncertain, but I don't care to slay this thing again." Raisng his hand to the sky he chanted, "Lit 2!" A Lightning bolt came crashing down from the heavens into the corpse burning it up to ashes.
   "Let's see if it can come back from that." Cloud joked before he coughed in pain.
   "Hey, where's Sephiroth?" Zack asked looking around the area.
   "He's gone!" Vincent remarked as he put his sword away. Scanned the area carefully, he said, "I believe they are in the Reactor."
   "How can you tell?" Tifa asked him as he started to walk away.
   "Call it a hunch." Vincent replied as walked off toward the Reactor over the ridge.
   Sword of fighting echoed in the hollow chambers of the Reactor as Sephiroth and Kakena rage it out. Standing tediously on the narrow gangplank that lay over the mako pit leading toward the Lifestream, the two fought each other. So far it seems that Kakena was living up to her words as she slashed Sephiroth's with her energy blade causing him to stumble back. Her blade allowed her better speed and maneuverability compare to his long Masamune as he futilely tried to block her attacks.
   "Getting tired?" Kakena asked as she noticed Sephiroth was starting to slow down in his response time. "You puny humans get tire out so easily." she grinned as she kicked Sephiroth flatly in the stomach causing him to fall to his knee in pain.  Kicking his Masamune out of his hand, she said triumphantly, "You're finished." Lifting her energy blade with both hands she plunged it down at Sephiroth. Blood splattered to the ground as Sephiroth blocked the blade with his own arm. Kakena's eye opened wide in shock at the scene.
 "I'm not through yet." Sephiroth growled as he coughed up blood. Grabbing her sword arm, he gave a grunt as heaved her over the side. Falling to his knee, he managed a grin as he watched her scream as she plunged into the Mako pool.  Rot in hell he mused as he heard cries of his name behind. Turning his head back even as they started to turn red he could manage to make out the form of Vincent and Cloud. A sharp pain filled the back of his head, as everything started to get blurry. Just before he blacked out, he could just hear them crying for him.

   Hojo looked at the figure in the monitor before him questionably as he slowly took in the information that he received. Things were really starting to turn for the worse he thought as he turned off the screen angrily. Curse you Vincent Valentine, even in death your legacy continues to ruin my experiments. Grabbing a nearby vial and tossing it against the wall, Hojo took a deep breath as he watched the chemical burn through the wall. Pushing his glasses back up as he pulled out his phone from his coat.
   "Are you ready?" Hojo growled to the receiver.
   "Affirmative, we are in position and prepared to move out on your order." the voice on the other end replied with a smirk.
   "Good," Hojo laughed as he squeezed the phone, "Initiate Plan Omega-Alpha in precisely 1600." "Be sure to recover Jenova unscathed," he added as he hanged up, "those fools better not screw it up." Smirking he laughed, "We will see who is the better scientist, Ghast."