It's another Norco Fanction!! That is, a fiction by Norco.
I own nothing, except for my computer, the clothes on my person, and my sanity. 
Sometimes not even that...
norco@fantasysquare.com

End of Battle; Start of War -- Chapter 2

  Vincent had never really liked the Golden Saucer. Too many lights and loud 
noises, not to mention that annoying organ music that was piped in the 
background. There was only one reason, and one reason only why he - and Barret - 
had come to the Gold Saucer. That reason was now waiting down the hole they had 
just jumped into. Vincent shut his eyes so that the bright lights didn't hurt 
them. Just as they were about to land, a anti-gravity machine snatched them out 
of their free-fall and caused them to land upright on a small platform that 
looked onto the entrance to the Battle Arena. The two men loaded their weapons, 
and stepped into the battle arena. Peeling his shirt sleeve back, Vincent took 
out several smallish balls. Two were green, another purple, and one scarlet orb. 
Underneath his sleeve was an Escourt Guard, a magical band that protected the 
wearer from several deadly magics. Taking the two green orbs, Vincent placed 
them into the shallow indents in the Guard. There was a tiny flash, and Vincent 
watched in amazement as the Guard's metal grew around the Materia, showing only 
a little bit of green. Vincent proceeded to perform the same process to the 
others, and felt his magical power increase as he equipped the purple materia. 
He'd noticed that Barret had equipped three green Materia, and two red ones. He 
wondered which of Cloud's Summon materia he'd taken. He couldn't have possibly 
taken Knights of Round, as Cloud kept that under tight reign, on his own 
bracelet. He'd insisted that KoR was simple too powerful for anyone to use, as 
there was no defense against it. He'd soon see.

  As they stepped into the lightly lit battle registration room, Vincent could 
see several people either practising sword swings, martial arts, in preperation 
to enter the arena. There was a loud bang, and a young man and women were flung 
out of the arena and into the registration room.
The two men stepped up to the counter, and the young women manning the station 
glanced up at them.
  "Yes, Gentles?" the female said in a smoothly accented voice. "What can I do 
for you?" Vincent thought of several naughty responses to that statement, but he 
kept them in. Barely. 
  "We'd like to use one of your arenas," Barret growled, proving to Vincent once 
and for all that he didn't know how to speak any other way.
  "Of course. Will that be the Regular Battle, or the Special Battle?" the 
attendant asked smoothly, ingoring Barret's tone of voice. 
  "We'll take the special Battle," Barret said, a grin in his voice. He nudged 
Vincent in the ribs. "We wouldn't wanna appear like wimps in front of such a 
beautiful young lady," he said, and there was no mistaking the wink, wink in 
Barret's voice.
  "Please step into the arena," the attendant said, again, ignoring Barret's 
comment. The two men stepped into the arena. The magic, monsters, and injuries 
were all fake of course, but it seemed real, thanks to the Holographic systems 
in place. The arena was sunken in the floor, like a basement, but there was a 
small balcony on three sides. The fourth side contained a large grill or 
portcullis, Vincent couldn't tell. 
  "THE BRAVE DO NOT FEAR THE GRAVE!" boomed a voice over the loudspeaker. The 
same motto was imprinted on the floor. The floor was encircled by a small pool 
of water. 
  "ROUND 1! FIGHT!" the voice on the other end of the loudspeaker said. There 
were cheers as spectators on the balconies looked on. The portcullis-slash-grill 
opened up, and a purplish, four-legged creature, bigger than both Vincent and 
Barret standing on top of each other, lumbered out towards them. Raising his 
rifle, he fired of a couple of quick shots, and then repositioned himself, 
focusing his mind. He noted that Barret was not attacking. What was he thinking? 
Gritting his teeth, Vincent hoped that Barret knew what he was doing. Drawing 
his attention back to the creature that was slowly making it's way towards 
Barret, Vincent used the first of the green orbs attached to his armlet. The orb 
contained the lethal Ultima magic, that was a gift to Barret after he and Cloud 
had rescued North Corel from the runaway Shinra train. The green fire lanced out 
from the ball on Vincent's wrist, and encircled the beast, sounding more and 
more like a huge wave of enraged bees.  As the glare died down a little, Vincent 
saw Ultima's green fire eat away at the creatures flesh as if it was loose and a 
wind had balsted it away. First the purple skin disintergrated, then the 
muscles, internal organs and then the skeleton. All this time the creature was 
writhing, trying to get away from the magic cloud that held it in place. Vincent 
noted with a mild surprise, that the crowd had gone deathly silent. Raising the 
rifle to finish what was left of the creature off, he realised that it was 
futile, that the creature had died long ago. The only reason it had stayed 
upright was that the spell held it there.
  "IMPRESSIVE!" boomed the loudspeaker. "SHALL YOU KEEP GOING?"	
  "Of course," Barret shouted, without casting a second glance at Vincent. 
Vincent strode over to Barret. 
  "What on earth were you doing, just standing there in the middle of nowhere?" 
Vincent hissed, enraged that his magical power had gone down severely as a 
result of Ultima.
  "What was I doing?" Barret snarled, returning Vincent's hiss. "I was summoning 
Odin, thank you very much! I knew that Odin would be able to take care of that.. 
that thing." Barret gestured to the hulk of remains that was the Behemoth. 
"You're just as bad as Cloud, damn his spikey-headed-ass," Barret said sadly, 
the anger in his voice replaced by mock severity. "Always going in head first, 
usually ruining the whole plan in the process." Vincent grinned skeptically.
  "Wasn't that you who charged in first?"

  The battle proceeded very quickly, with Vincent and Barret disposing of the 
remaining eight monsters. Ho-Chu. Comet. Ghost Ship. Fire3. The monsters came 
and went. Shiva. Ifrit. Odin. Bolt3. Ice3. At last, a hologram of the Shinra's 
Proud Clod appeared. Using the scarlet materia orb, Barret called on Kjata. At 
first, he'd thought that the spell had malfunctioned, as a leathal stream of 
lightning rained down from the ceiling. The lightning then coalesced into 
fireballs that made the air crackle and made Vincent break out in a sweat. 
Exploding with the force of a reasonable grenade, the fire tranformed itself 
into deadly ice shards which held the Proud Clod immoblie. Again, the elements 
coalesced, this time into the form of a huge bull, perhaps half the size of the 
Proud Clod. It leaped up on its hind legs, slamming down with enough force to 
knock over the entire Gold Saucer, but it was only the Proud Clod which toppled 
over. To Vincent's mild surprise, the speaker did not boom congratulations. That 
must mean that the Clod wasn't dead. Watching with dismay, Barret and Vincent 
saw the Clod jump up and open up with rifles. Ducking out the way, Vincent fired 
of a couple of rounds from his weapon, The Death Penalty, and watched as the 
bullets splattered harmlessly off the Clod's armour. A single bullet grazed 
Vincent's shoulder, and he realised with dismay that there was only one option 
left.
  "Barret, I can't hold it in anymore!" he gasped, gesturing at himself. He 
could feel the power swelling, rising up through the core of his being. 
  "Jus' let it go!" Barret yelled, dodging a stream of bullets from the Clod.
  "Fine, but I won't be responsible for what happens," Vincent though savagely. 
"Here goes." Surrendering himself to the power that had been his punishment, 
Vincent felt the changes begin. Horns erupted from his head, while the skin 
became grey and cool. His form shifted, becoming a single piece of skin. The 
hands and feet transformed into talons, while wings sprouted from his back. And 
the moment he feared each time he did this finally came. The violent, 
calculating mind. The inhuman, destructive mind of Chaos. One of the most 
powerful demons in Gi mythology, Chaos had been made his most powerful form. 
Feeling his mind brushed aside. he watched through eyes that were no longer his 
own as his new body lifted himself into the air. Hearing with ears that were no 
longer his own, he heard the scream Chaos emitted at the Clod. The Clod looked, 
and saw Chaos as insignificant. Reaching arms backwards, and then slamming them 
forward, Chaos sent two small, almost comical looking curves of light towards 
the creature. They slammed into it hard, tearing through its armour. Tearing 
through the armour of the Clod, again and again, until the mechanised beast fell 
to the floor, writhing in mechanical agony. The hologram vanished, and Vincent 
felt the fugue, or battle fever, as it was know to the Gi, subside and his body 
becoming his own again. 

  About an hour after Vincent and Barret had defeated the holographic creatures 
in the Battle Square, both  Barret and Vincent were getting ready to leave the 
saucer, when Vincent looked up into the sky. Stars twinkled at him, one shining 
more brightly than the others. As he watched, he noticed it was moving towards 
the Gold Saucer. Within minutes, He saw that it was coming towards the Ruby 
weapon embedded in the sands below the saucer. The comet, or whatever it was, 
slammed hard into the Ruby Weapon, causing it to disintergrate instantly.
  "Hey Barret, what do you think that was?" Vincent said, turning to face 
Barret. He was just about to answer, when a ghostly voice said something into 
his and Barret's head.
  "I am Jenova. And you have infested my home. The price for infestation is 
death." The voice faded away. Vincent looked at the projectile still lodged in 
the sands. He felt a shiver run up his spine. 
  "A small sample of my power, to be sure" the ghostly voice of Jenova said 
again, "And you will see more, if you do not heed my warning: All humans must 
perish. If you resist, you will die horribly."
  "Like hell! We're not just gonna sit around, so you can murder us, nor are we 
just gonna kill ourselves for you!" Barret shouted at the ceiling, drawing 
surprised looks from several passers-by; evidently, they were the only people 
who could hear the voice.
  "Yes. You will die. You will die fighting me, or you will die trying to escape 
me. It matters not. Your planet is mine, thus, your souls, your bodies, and your 
minds are all mine. And I will do with that which is mine as I wish. I will 
destroy you all. Face me if you can gather the courage." The voice faded away 
again, this time it was gone permanently.

Vincent nodded at Barret, and the two moved towards the exit, a little faster 
this time.

END OF CHAPTER 2