Zion Strife
Determined Individual
FFT Veteran
Posts: 188
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Post by Zion Strife on Jul 15, 2008 8:01:07 GMT -5
Zion's possessor attempts to stop Lucia but can't make it in time. The holy energy in Lucia's blade collides with the crystal. The crystal doesn't shatter but it repels Lucia's blade backwards and turns a greyish color, seemingly disabled. Light erupts from Zion's body, seeming to cleanse him of his possessor. When it fades, he collapses to the floor and lays still, unconscious.
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Lucia Valentine
Experienced Novice
Rest... awakening... life's cycle refuses to cooperate with me lately.
Posts: 100
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Post by Lucia Valentine on Jul 15, 2008 10:39:54 GMT -5
:: The recoil from Lucia's powerfully-charged attack knocks her backwards. Unable to recover her balance, Lucia finds herself landing rather ungracefully on her rear. After a moment, she slowly pulls herself to her feet. One hand remains grasping at her lower back, where she had taken most of the impact. ::
'Ungh... maybe not quite so much power next time...'
:: She kneels down to check on Zion, and notices that he's unconscious. Again. ::
"So it's up to me to do all the work again."
:: At that, her lips slowly curve into a very slight smirk. ::
"Not that I mind..."
:: She straightens up again, and takes a few steps toward the crystal. ::
"Okay, now we know Holy disables it. But... for how long?"
:: Wanting to take advantage of whatever time she just bought, Lucia walks over to the computer and runs another scan. This time, she uses the full scanning capability of the probe still sitting a few feet away from the crystal. It wouldn't tell her much, except maybe a little bit about how her attack had affected it. ::
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Zion Strife
Determined Individual
FFT Veteran
Posts: 188
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Post by Zion Strife on Oct 9, 2008 22:22:07 GMT -5
The probe reveals particles of holy energy battling with a corrupt form of lifestream energy. The battle seems even at the moment but one would notice that with every passing second that the corruption seems to be gaining the advantage. It fought the holy as an immune system would fight a disease. It would devour the holy particle but instead of destroying it, it corrupted the holy, turning it into another particle of corrupted energy. This process slowly repeated and as it did, the crystal appeared to be regaining it's strength.
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Lucia Valentine
Experienced Novice
Rest... awakening... life's cycle refuses to cooperate with me lately.
Posts: 100
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Post by Lucia Valentine on Oct 10, 2008 0:18:42 GMT -5
:: Looking over the information from the probe, Lucia feels a sudden chill. Holy energy kept the crystal at bay for a while, but is slowly being consumed by the corruption of the crystal's energy. ::
'Is it the same...? "Soul wrought of terra corrupt"? But... if Chaos is in me, and Jenova in Galeon... what is this?'
:: Her observations thus far showed the crystal displaying some signs of intelligence. Or at least, a self-preservation instinct. One of several possibilities leaps to the forefront in her mind. ::
'Maybe a fragment? Some kind of left-over part of Chaos? Or... Jenova?'
:: Of course, she also had to consider that this might be something even her mother knew nothing about. Some of the files Lucia had already read seemed to indicate that Shinra had little interest in Dr. Lucrecia Crescent's lifestream theories. ::
:: As the crystal grows stronger, Lucia shakes away her pensive, scientific mood. She watches Zion for signs of movement, as well as the crystal's power levels. Her Lightbringer sword glows faintly, but has not quite recovered its full power yet. Lucia sighs as she directs her attention to the crystal. ::
"You're not making this easy."
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Zion Strife
Determined Individual
FFT Veteran
Posts: 188
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Post by Zion Strife on Oct 10, 2008 21:46:37 GMT -5
The crystal hangs in a stable, recovering state. It slowly gains back it's powers but the regeneration is very gradual. It appears as if it's realized the holy energy is no longer a threat to it at this point and is resting. The readouts from the equipment get less and less solid as the crystal grows in power, as it begins to interfere with the probes agian.
Zion twitches slightly as consciousness returns to him. He slowly rises to a sitting position and looks around. He senses Lucia's presence and, upon standing up, he notices her working with the lab equipment. Slowly, his gaze shifts to the recovering crystal. He realizes many of the negative things that had developed within his mind of late, the paranoia, among others, were diminished. He was amazed he could be so influenced by this thing. At least the path to his freedom from it's grip appeared to be clear at this point. If a source of holy like Lucia's sword disabled it, maybe a large source would destroy it completely.
He walked over to stand beside Lucia and read the outputs of the equipment. It made little sense to him but he thought he might have seen something of interest.
"What does it say?"
He indicated the readouts as he spoke.
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Lucia Valentine
Experienced Novice
Rest... awakening... life's cycle refuses to cooperate with me lately.
Posts: 100
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Post by Lucia Valentine on Nov 5, 2008 5:51:19 GMT -5
"According to Mother's research, this might be a crystallized form of corrupted Lifestream. The consciousness inside could be anything."
:: Lucia's eyes narrow as she reviews the latest readouts. ::
"... It seems to eventually consume any Lifestream energy that it touches. Even Holy."
:: Lucia forces herself to shake the thought that she may be helpless against this thing. She's not her mother. But she does have personal experience with being controlled by Jenova. ::
"Does it ever... speak to you?"
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Zion Strife
Determined Individual
FFT Veteran
Posts: 188
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Post by Zion Strife on Nov 6, 2008 20:54:06 GMT -5
Zion took a moment to consider this news. He did vaguely remember a voice within his mind that was not his own but he wasn't sure how much he could trust that memory. He could also remember, back when he was out in the wilds, basic ideas and emotions about certain courses of action he was not entirely sure, at this point, that he was completely in control of. Combining this thought with the fact that it slowly consumes all types of energy, Zion was very concerned.
"It has. At least I think it has. I can't be sure but I think the influence is growing."
The thought of being consumed by this other entity flashed through his mind before he shook it out. There was a distinct note of worry not his face, despite his attempts to keep it even.
"If it consumes energy like that, it might be able to corrupt the energy of anyone it has contact with. Doing this, it could insinuate itself into the being's conscience. If that's the case, it might be ..."
He trailed off, leaving his suspicions about what it was doing to him implied, if unsaid. He looked straight at Lucia.
"I do not wish to become a slave to this thing."
His eyes noted his worry. A small note of pleading was evident in his voice, though heavily masked. He hoped she would know what to do, somehow. They had fought Jenova together. They could fight this together too. He thought this as he tried to convince himself of just that.
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Lucia Valentine
Experienced Novice
Rest... awakening... life's cycle refuses to cooperate with me lately.
Posts: 100
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Post by Lucia Valentine on Nov 6, 2008 23:45:59 GMT -5
'Parasitic Lifestream energy? If that's true...'
:: Lucia makes no attempt to hide her concern... and worry. She understands Zion's fear, better than most could even imagine. ::
"You won't. You're too stubborn to let that happen."
'So am I...'
:: Turning away from Lucrecia's computer, Lucia tries drawing more from her own experiences. ::
"Can you describe the voice? Or does it just... blend with your thoughts?"
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Zion Strife
Determined Individual
FFT Veteran
Posts: 188
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Post by Zion Strife on Nov 7, 2008 0:11:20 GMT -5
Zion collects himself and thinks back, straining his memory.
"At first, I think it was more playing with thoughts i already had than directly speaking. I remember, while in the wild, having these changes in plans i'd already made or gentle nudges towards a certain option in decisions i'd make. I thought little of it. I figured i was just starting to lose my grip or something of the like. Lately though, the changes have become more pronounced and the nudges much less gentle. I had never heard anything other than my own thoughts until tonight, when I tried to sleep. A man's voice spoke to me, I couldn't even begin to describe it. It told me ....."
Zion stopped short, realizing what he was about to say. With a short pause, he continued on.
"It told me that you would betray me and that I should kill you now. I tried to ignore it. It became more insistant and I began to actively try and shut it out. After a moment it went silent and I thought it was gone. Then I blanked out and the next thing I knew I was here. I could feel it consuming my mind. I felt it recede when you brought that holy energy near it. And, well, you know the rest."
He paused, unsure of how to proceed.
"I don't believe it's anything to do with Jenova. I'm just not sure though."
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Lucia Valentine
Experienced Novice
Rest... awakening... life's cycle refuses to cooperate with me lately.
Posts: 100
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Post by Lucia Valentine on Nov 16, 2008 0:42:09 GMT -5
:: Lucia seems to be deep in thought for a moment. Sighing in disappointment, she agrees. ::
"It doesn't sound like Jenova. But I can only describe my own experience with her. It might be different for everyone."
:: Her eyelids drop slightly, a slight tinge of defeat in her expression. ::
"This may take some time to figure out. And I don't want --"
:: She stops abruptly. Too many thoughts enter her head for her to articulate her feelings. ::
'I don't want you to suffer like I did for so long. I don't want the blood of thousands of innocent lives on your hands. I don't want to have to kill you to stop this thing. I don't want to let Mother and Father down.'
'...'
'... But I don't want to give up.'
"-- unh. Let's not worry about that. We can't waste time."
:: She sighs, glancing towards her mother's computer. ::
"Unfortunately, I can't think of another test to run."
:: She looks into Zion's eyes again, an almost completely professional look on her face. ::
"So I want you to tell me everything you can remember. From the beginning, anything you think the crystal might have had something to do with."
'Maybe then we can figure out another way to study it...'
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Zion Strife
Determined Individual
FFT Veteran
Posts: 188
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Post by Zion Strife on Nov 23, 2008 23:22:40 GMT -5
Zion rocked back on his heels and thought. He wasn't sure how far back to the beginning he could remember.
"I'll try. When I was out there, in the wilds, time blurred together. When all your thoughts are centered on surviving each day, you don't notice them passing much. I don't remember when I first wandered out into the cold of the mountains near the crater. I do remember the day i found the crystal though."
He paused, gathering his thoughts. He had never recounted this story before.
"It was soon after going out there. The wilds were ruthless, and I was in a terrible state. One day, I was caught out in a snowstorm with no refuge from the cold or driving snow. As I frantically tried to find shelter, the elements drained the life from me. I eventually collapsed, unable to move. I was delirious and thought I was dying when I suddenly felt a great warmth filling me. My strength renewed, I quickly, as if guided, found a perfect cave. The crystal was there. The warmth grew as I grew closer to it. So I lived out of that cave. Gradually, I came to understand the nature of the crystal's power. I was able to bend it to my will when I kept it with me."
Zion pauses, snapping out of his thoughtful state and talking less to himself and more to Lucia again.
"From there, things developed as i said before. It helped me survive and, I think, gained a hold on my conscious slowly over the time I was out there."
Zion took a moment to think before continuing.
"It's of Lifestream origin, but it seems corrupted by something that devours anything it encounters. I have no idea what could do that, besides ..."
Zion looks as though he's realized something.
"You don't think it might have something to do with Omega, do you?"
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