Slowly, the group of summoners and guardians walked up the stairs. At the top, they arrived in a place that at least two of them had seen before...
A strange, wavering and shimmering sky, over the ruined remains of the Zanarkand blitzball stadium. In the middle, where the water sphere normally was, a giant stone platform was floating.
They were inside Sin's mind.
And in the middle of the platform, a man was standing, his back turned towards them.
Aura stepped forward. "Jecht, I finally fulfilled my promise."
Tidus' father turned around and looked at the small girl. "Auron? That you?" Aura nodded.
Jecht smirked. "You really have changed over the past years, I see..."
Aura smirked back. "Yeah... but so have you."
Jecht shook his head. "Can't argue with that... really, I can't... You're late, you know..."
"I'm sorry," she replied.
Then Jecht's gaze fell onto Tidus. "Hey."
Tidus nodded. "Hi..." He took a good look at his father. He really didn't like him that much, but he couldn't say he didn't miss him.
Jecht hadn't really changed over the past years. He was still a big, muscular man, and was still wearing these wide trousers, and no top. His left arm was embedded within a metal armor that ended at his shoulder. His hair was still a wild mess, and on his bare chest, Tidus saw the black tattoo that made Jecht famous in his old Zanarkand: The symbol of the Zanarkand Abes.
Jecht chuckled. "Ha! You got tall, but you're all bones. You eating right, boy? You've really grown."
Tidus nodded. "Yeah, but you're still bigger."
"Well, I am Sin, you know..."
Tidus shook his head. "That's not funny."
Jecht sighed. "Well, then... I mean... you know. Let's end this."
"Dad?" Tidus said in a small voice.
Jecht looked up. "Hm?"
Tidus couldn't help it. He let out a small sob. "I hate you!"
Jecht smiled. "I know, I know. You know what you have to do?"
Tidus looked up. "Yeah, I know."
Jecht looked up into the sky as he was trying to listen to something. "I can't hear the Hymn so well anymore. Pretty soon, I'm gonna be Sin. Completely. I'm glad you're here now. One thing, though... When it starts, I won't be myself anymore. I won't be able to hold myself back. I'm sorry."
Tidus growled. "That's enough! Let's finish this, okay?"
Jecht nodded. "You're right. Well then... let's go!"
He took a step back and then did a powerful backwards jump. Tidus ran after him, but as he stared down to where his father had vanished, Braska's Final Aeon rose from the depths.
It still kinda looked like Jecht, but was more than twice his usual size. His eyes were gleaming in a mysterious white, and his whole body was surrounded by a powerful aura.
Tidus drew his sword. "Give me your best shot, Dad!"
And as the others got ready as well, the final battle for Spira's fate started.
----
Jecht hit Kimahri with his outstretched hand. The mighty Ronso warrior flew back with a loud grunt, but Akane used this chance to attack the Aeon's arm with a mighty hit. The Aeon tried to swipe her away, too, but she skillfully jumped over the muscular arm. She grinned. "You won't defeat the heir to the Tendo school that easily."
----
Wakka threw his blitzball with all his might at the Aeon's face, but it didn't seem to even scratch him. As a reply to this move, the Aeon's eyes lit up and fired a white beam at Wakka, who got instantly petrified. Yuna quickly ran at his side to heal him with her spell.
----
"I've been saving this one for you," Tidus shouted while powering up. He ran towards the towering form of his old man, jumped, bounced off the Aeon's muscular chest and raised his sword. For a while, he remained in mid-air while sparkles of energy got concentrated on the tip of his sword. With a powerful swipe, he hurled the energy at the Aeon. "Energy Rain," he shouted, and the beams bombarded Jecht's form with massive explosions.
----
Braska's Final Aeon seemed seriously hurt, but suddenly, it reared up again, as if its powers were coming back. Then, it gripped its chest and pulled out of its 'flesh' a GIANT sword that was bigger than Aura's, even if Jecht were his normal size. He held it back and then attacked all of the team members at once with a powerful swipe.
Ranma and Aura were the only ones that remained standing. "Don't give up," Ranma shouted and pulled out a Mega-Potion. With a small twinkle, the curative item healed all of his friends at once.
----
While the others were busy fighting, Nabiki and Rikku had been busy mixing various kinds of items they had collected all over their journey. Now they picked up their little arsenal of bombs, elemental items and whatever they had else and shouted: "CLEAR!" Then, they bombarded the mighty Aeon with a shower of explosions, sparks, burns, showers and ice crystals. And finally, Nabiki threw their secret weapon: The Supernova, a massive destructive burst of power, developed from a Dark Matter fragment and a Black Magic Sphere.
----
The Final Aeon now really got serious. He raised his right hand and concentrated his power.
Aura, who had seen the Aeon in battle before, gasped in surprise. "Look out! He's going to use the Ultimate Jecht Shot!"
"Say what?" Tidus replied. "He's gonna throw blitzballs at us?"
Aura laughed nervously. "Not blitzballs... but something else. Look!"
And as Tidus watched, the Aeon pulled something out of outer space to hurl at his opponents. Tidus gasped. "A meteor? He's gonna throw a meteor at us? Oh, come on!"
"Quick," Ranma shouted. "Get behind me!"
"What are you doing?" Akane shouted.
"I'll save our lives, that's what I'm doing! Now get your ass behind my back, already!"
Akane gulped. When Ranma was talking in that kind of voice, they better obeyed. "Yes, sir..."
And when his friends were standing behind him, Ranma summoned Fenrir. "Fenrir! Protect us from that attack!"
The earth wolf looked at him grimly. 'You know I won't be able to help you for the rest of the battle if I do that.'
"I know! Just DO IT!"
Fenrir nodded and focussed his powers. With a mighty howl, the earth erupted in-between him and Ranma. A high, massive stone wall separated them from the Final Aeon... only Fenrir was standing in front of it.
'Come on, you big ugly... whatever you are,' the wolf barked. 'Bring it on!'
And when the massive meteor got hurled at Fenrir and the full force of the Ultimate Jecht Shot hit him, the earth wall in front of the heroes cracked as well. Finally, it fell apart, but it had protected them.
Fenrir was laying on the ground, slowly disappearing. "'I'm going back to rest, Ranma...' he said weakly. 'Go get him!'
And the battle continued.
----
Once again, Jecht attacked them with his massive sword, but Aura jumped in the air, bounced off the massive blade, soared towards the Aeon's face and whispered: "Forgive me... my friend." And she attacked it with a Banishing Blade!
----
"Now it's time to finish this," Ranma shouted. "Yuna, call out any Aeon you like."
She nodded. "Valefor, descend from the heavens!"
"Griever, let the winds blow!"
The flying Aeons appeared and faced their opponent.
"And now, do what we taught you," Yuna shouted. "Give him no quarter," Ranma added.
"Shockwave Pulsar," Griever growled in a dark voice and summoned a powerful suction of air, that was barely enough to pull the massive form of Braska's Aeon upwards. With the dark powers he absorbed from his former evil mistress, he created a huge, black orb that was spinning around in the sky and torched Jecht with spinning lasers.
Meanwhile, Valefor had flown up into the air and was waiting next to the spinning orb, while charging up her powers. When the time was right, she let loose with a massive, broad beam of light that hit the Fina Aeon with full force... "Energy Blast!"
----
When the battle was over, the giant form of the Final Aeon bent over the platform and slowly began shrinking, until Jecht knelt before them in his human form.
"Not... bad," he said while breathing deep. "You really are a great team of fighters, worthy of saving Spira..."
During the whole battle, Tidus' face had been a fixed mask of determination. Now, that his father was kneeling before him, beaten and finished, he began weeping again.
Jecht smiled up at him. "You'll cry. You're gonna cry. You always cry. See? You're crying."
"I hate you, Dad," Tidus claimed, but his tears showed Jecht the truth.
But Jecht stood up. "Save it for later."
Tidus wiped away his tears. "Yeah... we have a job to do, right?"
Jecht nodded. "Good. That's right. You're my son, after all."
Tidus took a deep breath. What he was going to say next wasn't exactly easy...
"You know... for the first time... I'm really glad to have you as my father."
Suddenly, an eery screech filled the place. An ominous, black cloud began floating around the area.
"It's him," Ranma murmured. "He's here... Yu Yevon!"
Jecht turned to Ranma. "You know what to do, right? The Espers..."
Carbuncle's voice echoed in Ranma's mind. 'Us Espers...'
"Call them!"
'Call us!'
Jecht took one last smile at his son, then turned into a cloud of pyreflies.
The incorporeal form of Yu Yevon let out another screech and approached them while circling around the area.
"Here it comes," Akane shouted.
Ranma raised his hand...
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(Posted Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:11)
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