A New War

[Zazi]

Blitz ripped off his cracked and charred torso armor. He was completely bare from the waist up. Blitz ignited his blades and looked at the beast and the Shinigami. Zazi shotgun was laying on the ground and he had his massives sword in hand. Sephiroth's violet blade ignited and they charged.

Blitz's speed had increased dramatically as the weight from his armor was off of him. Zazi had point and as he slashed at Blitz he ducked under and deactivated his right blade and caught Zazi with an uppercut. As he came around Zazi's body Sephiroth X was there ready to pounce. Blitz saw sephiroths brilliant sword attack coming. He blocked with both blades. He then quickly deactivated them and dodged right. He caught the assassin off guard with this untraditional move. Sephiroth X stumbled forward and Blitz caught him with a kick to the back.

The assassin flew forward and quickly rebounded and looked at Blitz with pure anger in his eyes. Even before Sephiroth could ast Zazi came up from behing and swung at Blitz who spun and blocked. Sephiroth lunged at Blitz wgo again deactived his blades side stepped and sephiroth missed Zazi by millimeters. Blitz quickly tried to capitalize with a kick. Zazi dropped his sword to his left hand and caught blitz legg with his right and tossed him across the room.

Sephiroth then luned and ran Blitz clean through where his core was.

Blitz began to laugh and looked at the two hunters. "Do you think it would be that easy to kill me?" Blitz grabbed Sephiroth X tossed him to the side and lunged at Zazi. Zazi took a page out of Blitz's book and side stepped. The beast came down with his sword and cleaved Blitz in half. Before the upper portion of the torso hit the ground Sephiroth was there and beheaded it in mid-air.

((Sorry guys. Got in trouble with the rents computer time has been limited))

[Sephiroth X]

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, Lord Mangetsu," the Advocate said, even though his mask hid all expression on his face, Mangetsu somehow knew that the bastard was smiling.

"And with strange aeons, even death may die..." Mangetsu said quietly, finishing the quote.

The Advocate's body surged under his black suit, bubblind and churning as if he were some sort of liquid. Before Mangetsu could open his mouth, the Advocate exploded into waves of liquid metal, flowing and snaking around him into a giant battle body. Mangetsu was astounded. This ability was almost exactly like one wielded by one of his Royal Guardsmen.

The metal quickly took on a mossy sheen, and the Advocate stood over seven feet tall in a demon of a body. Four metal tentacles shot out of his back smashing into the ground in front of Mangetsu, and the floor creaked as the Advocate elevated himself on them. The crime lord was taken aback. A body like this was no easy task to obtain. How did he manage to get ahold of one?

Mangetsu didn't have time to think about an answer. The tentacles swung forward, threatening to clip off his head if he didn't act. The godlike speed that the crime lord possessed was all that prevented the battle from ending right then. Twirling in mid-air, Mangetsu's twin beam sabres roared to life in a green flash of light, striking twice against the tentacle above him. Sparks flew, but not even a scratch was found in the armor.

"A conventional attack like that is useless, even for nobility," the Advocate laughed.

Another tentacle drew back and thrust forward, landing a shot directly on Mangetsu's chestplate. The Maverick was thrown backwards, leaving an indention in the wall.

Daiken rushed in front of his master, staff extended to its full length. The fox unleashed a hellish howl and threw himself forward. The bodyguard was inches away from the Advocate's mask when a blur of white struck him in the side. Tumbling end over end, Daiken landed on his feet, pure hatred surging from his golden eyes. A white fox, who would've been the spitting image of Daiken had he been a female, stood in front of the Advocate, a staff of her own resting on the broken floor. Another major difference was that she had five tails instead of Daiken's nine.

Fox reploids were rare. They were difficult to create, and not many people really had the whim to make them. Most foxes were made to be mercenaries, assassins, or in this case, bodyguards. Daiken had served Mangetsu since the day the crime lord had awakened, and stood by his side ever since. Daiken had only met one other fox besides himself, and that was the roguish Tamar Roreth.

"This is just ridiculous," Mangetsu growled, prying himself loose from the wall. "Daiken! Finish her quickly!"

The fox drew out handfuls of DNA Souls from the blood-red ruby atop his staff, and hurled them at his doppleganger. She deflected all with a smug ease, walking forward as she did. As the souls exploded on the walls of the ballroom, she drew back her staff and lunged forward, catching Daiken in the stomach. The tip of Daiken's weapon touched the carpet and with a flick of the wrist, the floor came up with it, crashing down on top of the female fox.

Mangetsu was leaping like a drop of water on a frying pan trying to avoid the lightning fast attacks of the Advocate's tentacles. Gun barrels protruded from the very ends and sent a rain of bullets at the crime lord. A fine mist of DNA Souls sprayed from Mangetsu's hands in front of him like a shield deflected the bullets, but the slugs simply bounced off of the Advocate's battle body. It became apparent that the only real weak point the armor had was where the Advocate's split-color mask sat staring endlessly.

Pushing his acrobatic skills to their limits, Mangetsu leapt, twirled, and bounded across the deadly snaking weapons and thrust his twin blades into the Advocate's forehead. The battle body took on the state of liquid metal again, and collapsed to the ground, splattering all across the room. Mangetsu swelled with triumph, only to be deflated as he saw what the armor revealed.

A robot. The Advocate of Unity, a Reploid, had been using a decoy. He had never been in Africa to begin with. A simple marionette-like machine had been playing out his movements the entire time. Mangetsu swore loudly, kicking the mask off of the featureless face, sending it careening off the floor.

"My lord?" Daiken asked.

"Mine was a fake," Mangetsu grumbled. "How was yours?"

"She disappeared my lord. I'm led to believe that she was simply a hologram much like the ones I create."

"Just smoke and mirrors this whole time," Mangetsu said, infuriated. "Just smoke and mirrors this ENTIRE BLOODY TIME!"

Mangetsu stormed across the room to where the Advocate first sat. Throwing DNA Souls one after the other, Mangetsu destroyed the sides of the room in his fury. Finally resorting to tearing off the walls by hand and smashing to the ground, Mangetsu threw back his head and screamed hatefully to the sky.

The Royal Guard came bursting through the door, eyes wide.

"My lord? What happened?" Nikila asked. She shivered when Mangetsu's demonic eyes set upon her. Never had he been this angry before.

"A hoax. I was fighting nothing more than a puppet," Mangetsu said gratingly. His face contorted in hatred, he stormed past his Guardsmen, disappearing into the hallway.

"Destroy it. All of it. Wipe this place off the map. Just get it out of my sight."

-------

Blood caked the walls of the compound as Mangetsu approached the main hall. It had been nothing short of a bloodbath in the building, and the crime lord seethed at not being able to add his foe's to the mix. At the door, Sephiroth X leaned against the wall, his eyes flickering with a dark satisfaction.

"You don't look too good, twinny."

"Shut your damned mouth."

What made Mangetsu the angriest was that he knew that somehow Sephiroth X would've been able to slay the Advocate. No matter how tough the bastards were, the Shinigami would've found a way. He always did. Mangetsu stormed past his twin brother, who followed close behind.

Sephiroth whirled around at the sound of explosions coming from the building. His eyes were wide as the compound slowly came to the ground, the Royal Guard walking slowly away from the rubble.

"It's over, Sephiroth. Call off the Hunters. The Advocate's not here, nor will he be. Just pack your things and get out of here."

((The Advocate's battle body was all Zazi's idea. He wanted him to be a recurring villain, so I had Mangetsu fighting his decoy. The Advocate's fox was my idea. ^^ Post finales, and let's get this thread over with.))

[Omnicyde]

Nikita wheeled in a crate laden with several pounds of high explosives. "Omnicyde, Luceno, Bishop, and Issac, plant these all over the great hall. When we're far enough away, we'll blow this place to kindgom come. I'm taking the rest of the guards to plant more charges in the hanger bays and power reactor." He turned and left. The other three guards grabbed handfuls and began attaching them to pillars, the walls, the floor, ceiling, or wherever else they felt like tossing them. There was enough explosive to destroy a small city in Mangetsu's stockpile, so they didn't really have to worry about conserving any.

Omnicyde jumped and slapped a charge onto a pillar a few feet above his head and landed right next to the sniper he had killed. The blood coming from her eyes and mough had coagulated, as had the blood on the floor. Her arm was horribly mangled, where the bone had snapped and shattered.

He took a moment to study his victim, something he didn't do too often. A brunette with short hair, wearing a suit of some pretty advanced battle armor. A utility belt that held a 10mm pistol similar to Omnicyde's. Her dog tags gave her name as Jessica Kerkowski, Captain. He pocketed them as trophies and slung her 300-X around his shoulder beside his LASARUS.

"They used to call that grave robbing." he turned to see Issac toss a charge onto the next pillar over. "Well, Issac, I look at it this way; I can leave this beautiful rifle, one of the few 300-Xs in existence, here to be destroyed by simple explosives, OR I can take the rifle for my own personal use and thus not waste a multi-million dollar piece of equipment." Omnicyde snatched her ammo bag off her backpack and secured it to his own before rising.

Mustari poked his head into the throne room. "Are you slowpokes done yet? We're all finished with the hangers and reactor. Our chopper is waiting outside. Hurry up before I blow you guys up too." Omnicyde activated his last charge before running to catch up with the others. He was the last one to board the Devastator that would take them back to HQ.

They were about 2 miles away when Nikita depressed the firing button. The sky lit up like a second sun as explosives blew, then the secondary explosion as the reactor overloaded from the heat and pressure and blew the mountain base even further sky-high. Shrapnel rained down over a mile away, some pieces of mountain approaching the size of pickup trucks.

Omnicyde leaned back and watched the fireworks, a sad smile on his face. "What's the matter, sniper?" asked Bishop. "Oh, nothing really.... I just wanted to be the one to push the button." The chopper filled with laughter.

Once they landed, Omnicyde was intercepted by Cloud before he could reach the command tent. "Mavericks and Hunters are packing their bags mighty fast, sir. The African mavericks are moving back into the mountain outpost to protect whatever it is you've got there, and the Hunters are picking up and going back to Japan." Omnicyde smiled a true smile this time. "You going with us, Sergeant?" Cloud shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not, sir, since Vincent was killed at the AA base, i'm the senior leader for the TACPs here. I can't leave, much as I'd like to, since I hear you guys don't have much of a use for us in Tokyo. That was true... Omnicyde was going to miss air support when he got back.

Cloud took off, and Omnicyde realized he still had a lot of crap to do. Since Winter and Griswald were both dead, he had to pick new sergeants to do his bidding... THREE sergeants, actually, since he had every intention of making sure Linx went to officer training in Chile.

"Captain! Wait up!" he turned to see Issac, Bishop, and Daiken approaching him. He sighed with aggrivation. "Every time I see you guys, Mangetsu wants me to do something for him. Aren't we DONE yet?" Daiken grinned. Omnicyde then noticed Bishop and Issac had slipped behind him. They grabbed his arms and let fly, two punches that nearly broke his shoulder. The two guards and the servant laughed as Omniocyd tried to massage feeling back into his arms... which he now noticed beared a gold oak leaf. "Congratulations, Major! Mangetsu just authorized it!" Daiken swept behind him and grabbed his shoulders. Now Omnicyde KNEW something was up. The bodyguard lead him away fro the other two.

"This rank, sniper, while definately being earned, is also something of a BRIBE." Daiken whispered in his ear. "Mangetsu wasn't entirely pleased that you had seen his little surprise for Tokyo. He wants you to know that if word gets out, he will personally eviscerate you. So, if you want to at the very least keep your rank, I suggest you forget what you saw in that bunker."

Omnicyde looked at Daiken blankly. "What bunker?"

The fox didn't really laugh, so much as chuckle very loud. "Good answer, Major. And, as always, Mangetsu is one step ahead of you for your men. Linx left for Chile a few minutes ago. I'm sorry you didn't get to congratulate him yourself, but it was the only plane going to South America for the next two months, and we figured you wouldn't want him to wait." With that Daiken ambled off.

Omnicyde grinned. He was going to keep his mouth shut about the bunker ANYWAY... the rank was just a perk to the whole deal. Tanchu sidled up to him. "SOOOOOOOOO...... just heard about the new rank, sniper. I still get to call you sniper, right? Or has your new rank already gone to your head? HEY, nice new sniper rifle, and I get to leave with BOTH of my swords this time, so I guess this fight worked out well for the both of us, eh?"

They bickered back and forth the whole way to the command tent. Omnicyde still had to pack the rest of his gear and hop on the plane back to Tokyo. He couldn't wait to get out of this damn country...

<<END OMNICYDE>>

[Sephiroth X]

MAVERICK HUNTER HEADQUARTERS, NEO-TOKYO, JAPAN
MISSION LOG: 48723, a.k.a, "A NEW WAR"
STATISTICS:
-ALLIED CASUALTIES: 12058
-MISSION STATUS: COMPLETED
REPORT BY: CECIL
REPORT: Three days after the attack on the Advocate base, the Hunters and Mavericks have went their seperate ways. The figure codenamed "Scarab"'s whereabouts are still unknown. No data exists anywhere besides combat data extracted from the World's Fair incident.

The status of the Hunters: mediocre. The war severely lowered our numbers, and damage to weaponry and vehicles is still being calculated. Major Enigma Gatrai Delta was found alive, thankfully, as well as Captain Sephiroth X and Zazi the Beast (military rank unbeknownst to the recorder). Ramah Stormset was also found well, so the SA Combat Rank Squad is still fully staffed.

The Advocate's whereabouts are unknown, but it's well-known that his forces have taken a crippling blow as a result of our actions. The Advocate himself has gone into hiding, and the Arks of Scion have vanished into the underworld. Teams are still being sent to locate them.

CONCLUSION: The mission was completed, but a unanimous vote of high-ranking officers have declared the mission neither a success nor a failure. Too many lives were lost and not enough pros were found to declare a success, but the bringing down of the Arks of Scion and the Advocate's operations in Africa prove too good to be a failure.

RESULT: Unknown

NOTES: The Shingetsu Syndicate has apparently made off with several large shipments from one of its strongholds in Africa. What was in the shipments is unknown, and they all but disappeared once they reached the ocean. Research on this is need desperately. Rumors have been going around of a widespread attack in the near future. How near is unknown.

-Cecil, Navigator First Class, Second Division

((I'd say we're done. Enigma, lock this if you please. If there are any objections, please make this known to me, Enigma, or the mods.))

[Enigma]

((It is my distinct pleasure to end a thread that has lasted (on and off) nearly eleven months (as it began on 15 Feb 2005). Within the next day or so, we'll begin talks about what to do next. Hopefully we can keep threads from going this slowly in the future.

With that said: great job, eveyone! Here's to the next one.

Locked.

Enigma, First in Command, Aetas Administration))